With You
by HoshiToYume
Summary: "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." Just when they thought it was all over, it all began again... but it was different. And the truth becomes a painful memory.
1. Prolouge

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEIYA KOU!  
I've decided to kick off Seiya's birthday with a new story! First things first... this IS a UxS stor because let's face it, he's kind of awesome! Actually when i re-watch the Stars season, it makes me sad because Usagi doesn't chose him. But anyways... I hope you'll all enjoy this new story :)**

******I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SAILOR MOON CHARACTERS**  


* * *

"I won't give up! Because I believe! The world I love, this world everyone tried to protect, and that small hope left in your heart!"

Her termination never faltered because she knew everyone believed in her – It gave her strength. And it was what she needed to light up the darkened world. She was going to save the universe… not as Princess Serenity, not even as Sailor Moon. No, the light emanating from her was from the purest soul in the universe.

"I love this world, this world where I met everyone. I don't want to lose you or anyone."

This girl never ceased to amaze the Starlights. '_How was it possible that she could love everything and everyone unconditionally? Her light…'_ There was no doubt in their minds that she would win but her shine was unbelievable bright. It was true that it was why Fighter was initially so drawn to her, but after getting to know her and seeing her in her true form now was just… surreal. She knew she loved the angel that was desperately trying save the universe, but seeing her now just made her love her even more. Fighter long realized that Usagi would never return her feelings, but this was enough… '_as long as her light never fades, it's enough for me_.' Closing her eyes, Fighter relished in the warm light and it filled her with a renewed sense of hope. It was almost as if she was feeling the beginning of a new life…

"Don't come any closer!" Chaos shrieked, terrified of the light. It wanted to run, to escape the light that would destroy it. But the body no longer responded to it – the owner was regaining control.

"I love it too, I love this world! I can see you, Sailor Moon. I can see your light… a very warm and bright light." Usagi's light reached her soul. Galaxia reached out, trying so desperately to grasp the light and free herself from darkness.

Finally… Usagi reached out to Galaxia and took her apprehensive hands, engulfing the universe in the brilliance of her powerful light.

And… it was all over. She was free.

They were all free – free from evil, free from darkness… and…


	2. Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly on a warm Tokyo day. There was no sign of damage, death, or any indication that Galaxia had destroyed Tokyo. But of course that was the case… because… Galaxia had never been Earth. At least, not to anyone's knowledge anyways.

A young boy with brilliant blue eyes was carefully walking down a quiet street, holding firmly but gently onto the bouquet of roses he had just bought. Normally, he would be skipping down the street singing without a care in the world. But not today… no, he was being extra careful because he wanted to surprise someone special with a gift and it had taken him a long time to save up and buy the perfect roses. Seiya wanted to congratulate her beloved sister Kakyuu's first day in kindergarten.

* * *

_-Flashback-_

Although she was only a couple years older than him, ever since he was born Kakyuu had been watching out for her little brother as any sister would. But even though they were just siblings, the bond between them was unnaturally close… almost as if she was protecting him from the world. When he was an infant, the two would only be able to sleep when they were next to each other. And during the day, she would much rather spend time with him than with anyone else. When he was a couple years old, he too elicited a sort of… protective behavior over his older sister. Their parents doted on the two children, but all they needed was each other, no one else. Their dependency on each other only lasted a couple years. It wasn't as if they began to drift apart or anything – It was more like… they were able to accept other people into their lives. Actually two other boys to be exact.

When Seiya had turned three, his parents threw a birthday party for him, inviting all their relatives and friends. It was then that the siblings met Taiki and Yaten for the first time.

Taiki was hesitant when he first received the invitation to attend his cousin's birthday party. He'd much rather spend his time reading in daycare where his busy parents would drop him off every day. He hated social gatherings, especially one where he didn't know anyone. After many protests and whines, Taiki finally agreed to go, only under the condition: that his one and only friend, Yaten went as well.

Taiki and Yaten met in daycare. Like Taiki, Yaten's single dad would drop him off at the daycare before he went to work. Although both kids were generally aloof with other people, they were instantly friends the moment they met. Everyone was surprised at how well the two boys got along with each other despite their differences… it was almost as if they already knew each other and how to handle each other's quirks. From then on, the two looked forward to their daily routine in daycare - Taiki would spend most of the morning reading while Yaten would be sleeping next to him as the taller boy watched over him and then they would do whatever Yaten wanted to in the afternoon, which mostly consisted of defending the silver-haired little boy against another child at the daycare. So when Yaten discovered that Taiki was going to be away for a day, he became nervous.

"But if you go, I'll be by myself! You know how crazy she is, I can't handle her alone!"

Taiki chuckled, "Maybe you should just let her braid your hair once and she'll go away."

"NO WAY!" He looked incredulously at his best friend, horrified and as if the other said the most blasphemous thing in the world.

It only caused the taller boy to chuckle even more. But despite the teasing, he was not about to leave his best friend with the girl they dubbed 'the hyper blonde'. Taiki had a sneaking suspicion that Yaten may actually like the attention since silver-haired boy could have easily made a nasty comment and made the girl cry. But Yaten was too proud to admit even the slightest attachment to the overly enthusiastic blonde girl with the big red bow. Nevertheless, Taiki persuaded his parents to take Yaten to the party as well. And it was there that the three former Kinmouku senshi and princess were reunited.

_-End Flashback-_

* * *

Little Seiya was walking slowly down the street occasionally checking that the roses were still as perfect as when he bought it. He couldn't wait to get home and ask Kakyuu how school was; not to mention, Taiki and Yaten had agreed to come and welcome back Kakyuu. The boys had agreed to throw a small welcome home party for Kakyuu since she had been crying about going to school alone and the three just wanted to cheer her up.

The young boy was just a few steps from his house when he saw a figure huddled over on the side of the sidewalk. Usually, he was weary of strangers, but he saw that it was just a small girl and decided that she would be harmless.

"Are you ok?"

The girl looked up, tears streaking down her face and eyes were puffy and red. She was slightly scared since she didn't know who was talking to her. But the moment she saw his face, she calmed slightly. They had never met before, but somehow she felt safe around him… he felt almost… familiar.

She sniffled loudly and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands, "My mama is having a baby. She is in so much pain though." Not a moment later, she started bawling again.

Normally, Seiya wouldn't be interested in helping strangers but something about this girl just pulled on his heartstrings. He sat down on the curb next to her.

"You should be happy so when you see the new baby the first thing it sees will be a smile." She paused crying and looked at him curiously, only to see him smiling sweetly at her. "Why are you here on the sidewalk anyways?"

"Mama was at work when my papa drove her to the hospital. I'm waiting for my aunty to pick me up." She sniffled slightly and wiped away the remaining tears on her face. "Who are you?"

"Seiya. Seiya Kou." He gave her another smile that won the hearts of many adults. "I actually live right next door. What's your name? Is it Odango?" He grinned and poked one of her odangos.

She couldn't believe the nerve of this kid, "My name is not Odango! It's Tsukino Usagi." Despite his teasing, she couldn't help but smile back. And when she did, he thought it was more radiant than the sun. He didn't know what compelled him to do what he did next, but it just felt natural.

"Here," without a second thought, he presented his well-guarded roses to her, "Congratulations on being a big sister! Tears don't match your odangos, Odango. So smile!" And there it was again… the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, except even brighter now.

"Thank you Seiya-san! They're beautiful!" Seeing that he was being nice, she decided not to give him grief about the nickname and she gratefully took the flowers from the boy. Usagi hesitated slightly before quickly giving him peck on the cheek.

Blushing furiously, his hand covered the cheek she had just kissed. He quietly stammered out, "Y-You're welcome."

"Come visit me again Seiya-san." And with that, Usagi hopped on to the car that had just pulled up. She waved enthusiastically from the window and Seiya, still in shock, raised his hand slowly to wave goodbye back to the girl who would soon become his new best friend.

He walked back home, a little confused as to why he was so nice to a stranger, why he was so comfortable around her, and why her smile was so important to him.

"Where are the flowers?" Yaten looked up momentarily from his video game when Seiya got home.

"I…" Running into Usagi had made Seiya completely forget that the flowers were for Kakyuu, "I saw this girl crying on the sidewalk and I gave it to her."

Taiki, who had no interest before, had raised an eyebrow from beneath his book, "Why?" He knew better than anyone that his raven-haired friend could approach people easily but never thought he would give a stranger something, especially if that something was for his beloved sister.

"I…" Seiya couldn't get that girl out of his head, "I don't know… I don't even know her. But I just felt like I needed to cheer her up."

"You hate strangers." Yaten had completely stopped playing the game when he heard his friend.

His eyebrows twitched irritably,"That's you. YOU hate strangers Yaten." Seiya smirked when Yaten rolled his emerald eyes. "But she didn't feel like a stranger though. And I like her smile." His heart warmed when he remembered Usagi's radiant smile.

"Aw Seiya-chan has a crush." Yaten had taken the chance to make fun of his friend and made kissing faces, only to start fight between the two boys… yet again. The two always teased each other, but they knew it was simply playful banter. Taiki merely chuckled and continued to read.

Nevertheless, Seiya couldn't get Usagi out of his head. No amount of teasing from anyone, not even Yaten, would stop him from seeing her again. And he planned to visit her again, like she told him to. Soon.


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews! :) It's encouraging!**

For the next few days, Seiya went through all the family photo albums to find Usagi. He was positive that they had met before but couldn't remember when or where. When he went through all the photos with no results, he started to spy on the blonde next door. But that too proved futile since she spent most of her days at home taking care of her mother and newborn brother. By the end of the week, the determined little boy decided that he needed to talk to her – he wanted to know why he felt so attached to her.

It was bright morning and Seiya got dressed, prepping himself to meet the cute girl next door again. He strut happily over to her house but paused when he got to the gates. It wasn't often that he felt so nervous, but Seiya was nervous today… hesitating and even reconsidering visiting her. Finally mustering up the courage, he rang the doorbell. "Good morning Mrs Tsukino." Tsukino Ikuko opened the door to find the cutest little boy with a long ponytail and dark blue eyes staring at her.

The kind housewife kneeled down to his height, "Why hello there young man! Where did you come from?"

He repeated himself, voice full of confidence knowing that he could easily win over an adult, "Good morning Mrs Tsukino. My name is Seiya Kou. I live next door." He took a breath before continuing with his initial task, "I'm here to see Odan- uh… Usagi-san." The moment Usagi's name left his lips, it felt foreign. 'Odango' felt more natural for him.

His slip up on her given nickname did not go amiss by the older woman and she giggled quietly, "Oh well you're a little early. She loves to sleep in." Disappointed by that fact, he still wanted to see her even if it meant waiting for her to wake up. So he gave the elder Tsukino his winning smile which worked like magic. She reached out and ruffled his hair a little, "I'm about to make breakfast though. Do you want to come in and have some? She'll wake up from the smell." Ikuko couldn't help but giggle at her remark and Seiya smirked too. It wasn't customary for her to invite someone she had just met into her home, but Seiya was too cute to turn away.

Ikuko led Seiya into the house and showed him to the table. No sooner had she reached the kitchen, they heard crying coming from the baby monitor sitting on the table.

"Oh no, the baby is awake. Can you wait here Seiya-kun?" The boy nodded so she hurried upstairs to tend to the baby.

Seiya took the chance to take in everything about the house – it was incredibly clean and quite spacious. And as he looked around, everything felt… familiar. It was as if he'd been in her house before. In an instant, he saw the kitchen he was sitting in had become messy with food everywhere. He felt crowded and for a brief moment, he thought he saw a very pretty blonde girl being tied up against the window. Seiya clutched his head in agony as these images flashed through his head. It was the most intense pain he had ever felt… like fire searing its way from each cell in his body right into his brain. Within seconds, Seiya thought he might actually have been on fire and even that his head might explode. In desperation, he used all his strength to try and distract himself by looking at the roses on the table and remembering his new friend's amazing smile. He remembered how much warmth he felt when he saw her and it soothed him… the sharp pain in his head started to fade. Cooling the fire, he continued to stare at the roses when he noticed something about them.

A melodic voice laced with sleep echoed through the hallways. "Mama?" The moment her voice reached his ears, in his eagerness to see her again, the pain and the memories were pushed aside and forgotten. He sat up straighter and turned towards the voice, smiling. Usagi walked into the kitchen rubbing her tired eyes to wake herself up. "Good morning Mama."

It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. He greeted her excitedly, "Good morning Odango!" and chuckled at her surprised expression when she discovered her mother was not in the kitchen.

"Seiya-san? Why are you here? Where's my mama?"

"She's with the baby. I came to see if you wanted to play with me today."

"I have to help my mama around the house and take care of the baby."

"I can help you!" he flashed her the cutest smile, "Aren't I a nice guy?"

Suddenly, both of them frowned – it was as if they've had this conversation before. But neither of them questioned it in fear of sounding stupid to the other… and neither of them knew how to put their question into actual words.

Attempting to lighten the mood, Seiya said the first thing that popped into his head, "You're missing a rose Odango." He was positive that when he gave her the roses there were a dozen, but now there were only eleven in the vase.

"There was a boy in the hospital and he was crying. I wanted to give him a rose to cheer him up like it cheered me up when you gave me the flowers." She spoke as-a-matter-of-factly, as if kindness to a stranger was nothing uncommon. She smiled, pulled out the chair across from him and climbed on to it. "They're so pretty."

He couldn't help but stare at her smiling at the flowers, staring at the dreamy look she had on her face while she softly hummed her favourite tune. Fascinated by her fascination with the flowers, Seiya didn't pay attention to the tune she was humming. If he had, he would recognize it and would no doubt ask her where she had heard it, to which she would respond "I don't know, but it's my favorite song" and this song, the song that had never been composed, would haunt him. But he didn't notice it… and perhaps it was better this way…

Seiya didn't' even realize he was smiling as he watched her. He felt content just seeing her so happy – it made him all feel… alive. Usagi continued to look at the flowers, humming and swinging her legs while completely oblivious to the staring boy. Then after a while, she spoke up again, "Thank you Seiya-san. You're the best."

"Of course I am!" Unable to control his ego, he stood up on his chair and struck a pose, winking at her while he did, "Seiya-sama is the best!" And it caused both of them to go into a fit of laughter.

"Good morning Usagi-chan." Ikuko returned to the kitchen, gently oscillating the sleeping infant. She caught sight of Seiya still posing on the chair and giggled softly, making the boy blush pink as he slowly sat back down.

"Good morning mama," Usagi jumped off the chair and walked over to her mother to peek up at her baby brother, "and good morning Shingo-chan." She glided her small fingers against Shingo's soft cheeks and smiled as he shifted slightly before going back to sleep. Usagi turned around and beckoned Seiya over, "Look Seiya-san. Meet my brother, Shingo! I'm a big sister!" She beamed at him.

"Congratulations!" He gave both Ikuko and Usagi a genuine smile. "He's really cute." He walked over to the crouching Ikuko to have a better look at the baby. "Hi, nice to meet you Shingo-kun."

Ikuko noticed how Seiya approached cautiously, "Would you like to hold him Seiya-kun? I can make you two some breakfast while he sleeps." It was a gesture she hoped would make him feel more comfortable.

He opened his arms and eagerly accepted the bundle. "I'd love to!" Seiya cradled Shingo very delicately. He had never held a baby before and was extremely honoured to know that Ikuko trusted him enough to let him do so.

"Don't drop him!" Even though she was right beside him, Usagi shouted loudly.

Seiya cringed, "Shhh I know. You'll wake him up if you're so loud." As he hushed the embarrassed blonde, Seiya noticed that Shingo started to fidget from his slumber. He quickly started cooing the baby, singing him a song from the top 40 hit songs he listens to on the radio.

"Why are you singing him that?" Usagi was considerably softer now, "You're suppose to sing a nursery rhyme to a baby."

Seiya responded in a sing-song tone in order to keep calming the baby, "You can sing nursery rhymes to him, I like this song better."

Just as Usagi was about to rebut, Ikuko cut in, "Now now you two, Shingo likes both nursery rhymes and pop songs." She joined in giggling with the two children, "What would you two like for breakfast?"

"Pancakes! With strawberry and lots of syrup!" Usagi replied with quiet enthusiasm.

Ikuko made a mental note to teach Usagi about being a polite hostess and considering their guests later. "How does that sound Seiya-kun?"

But Seiya didn't mind a single bit, "Sounds yummy! Thank you for inviting me." He gave the older woman another one of his charming smiles.

Impressed by Seiya's manners, she got up from her crouching position, "Okay then!" She turned around swiftly and started to prepare the batter. "Why don't you two wait in the living room while I make it? Keep an eye on Shingo."

Usagi and Seiya walked over to the sofas and sat down with Shingo still in Seiya's arms. The two were unusually quiet, uncertain of what to talk about. But neither of them really minded – Seiya was carefully holding on to Shingo and slowly taking each step so as not to jostle the little bundle.

"Wakey wakey Odango!" Seiya had noticed Usagi's numerous yawns from their short walk into the living room. He wanted very much to turn around and poke her on her cheeks. But he didn't want to risk holding Shingo with one arm so he settled with just giving her a smirk.

Now that she had time to relax, Usagi was getting droopy eyed – it was early and she was hungry. Usagi yawned widely again just before she sat down on her large comfortable couch.

Seiya stopped right next to the couch and pouted sadly at her, "Should I come back another time?" He wanted to know this girl better but seeing her so tired just discouraged him.

This caught her attention. Seeing his sad face made Usagi feel guilty and she quickly got up, "No don't go Seiya-san!" Were it not for Shingo in Seiya's arms, Usagi would have tackled her new friend in a hug. "Please don't go…"

Seiya saw her eyes brimming with tears and he hated it. "Okay Odango." He gave her a warming smile and sat down on the couch. Usagi followed suit. "So tell me about yourself. What do you like to do?"

And so the two kids started to talk about themselves, getting more and more excited when they discovered that they had many things in common.

Soon after, "Breakfast is ready!" Ikuko's motherly voice wafted from the kitchen, alongside the delicious smell of freshly made pancakes.

Both kids made haste to return to the kitchen – quickly but gently so as not to wake the sleeping baby. Thankfully, Shingo seemed to be a deep sleeper… just like his sister.

As they walked into the kitchen and prepared to sit down, Seiya piped up, "Do you want to go to the park later?"

"But I'm helping mama around the house."

Seiya looked down at the baby in his arms. It was easier to direct the question at anyone except Usagi, "M-May I stay here then? I can help too." He was blushing furiously at having asked such a bold question. After all, they had just met.

But no one seemed to mind, "I'd love to have you help out Seiya-kun!" Having retrieved her newborn from the blushing boy, she too sat down around the table to have some breakfast with the children. "There's not much to do today since Usagi-chan was so helpful yesterday, so you two will have time to play too." Ikuko watched as Seiya's face gradually brightened up into a wide smile as he nodded in understanding.

And so the three ate breakfast together. Usagi and Seiya continued telling each other random things about themselves as Ikuko listened to them, occasionally peeking down at the baby to check that he was still sleeping. She couldn't help but think how cute the two were and wondered if they would end up together. Although she had just met Seiya, Ikuko could tell that he was someone special. Her daughter didn't have a lot of friends so she was glad that she and Seiya were so comfortable with each other. It was slightly strange to her that they were so friendly so quickly after one encounter, but still… she couldn't be happier for her daughter.

So for the next couple of days, Seiya made regular visits to his new Odango-haired friend. Ikuko didn't mind since Seiya was helpful around the house but also because Usagi would have a friend instead of being cooped up in the house alone attempting to help out. And the two kids couldn't be happier being friends. Each day, the two would look forward to hanging out with each other for the few hours before Seiya had to return home. And at the end of each day, the blue eyed boy would pinky promise to visit again the next day.

**This chapter didn't really turn out the way I wanted. Hm... not sure how I feel about it..ah well next chap coming soon! :) stay tuned  
**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi! Here's another chapter :) **  
**Hope you'll like it~****  
**

By the end of the week, Taiki and Yaten were coming to visit Seiya like they did every week. If it were any other week, Seiya would ecstatic that his best friends were coming to play with him, but not this week. Though still mildly excited, he wanted to keep hanging out with Usagi. He was seriously considering inviting Usagi over to his house but was afraid she might just want to stay home and tend to her mother like she did every day. He didn't really consider how his friends might react to him bringing a girl over, because despite his knowledge of his two best friend's antisocial personalities, Seiya had a feeling that they would be fine with this particular girl.

"Odango," though she didn't prefer the pet nickname he gave her, she still found it endearing and giggled childishly every time he called her that, "my friends are coming over to my house tomorrow. Do you want to meet them?"

She stopped giggling and frowned slightly when she heard him. It wasn't as if she didn't want to go… if fact, Usagi would love to go with him and meet new people – the girl loved meeting new friends. But she was hesitant about leaving her mother all by herself.

Ikuko, who had been quietly listening to the children around the table while washing the dishes, saw how conflicted her daughter had become and knew exactly what was bothering her. "Usagi-chan go have some fun."

"But mama, you'll be so busy with all the work and the baby! I'm a big sister now so I have to help you."

"You're such a good girl Usagi-chan." Ikuko bent down and gave her a big hug, "Mama can handle it for one day. So go have fun!" The fact was, Ikuko was an excellent housewife and didn't really need help around the house. But she didn't want to discourage her daughter so she would always give the children small tasks that they could easily handle.

"But won't you be tired mama?" Her huge cerulean eyes looked worriedly at her mother.

Ikuko smiled warmly, "You and Seiya-kun helped me so much that almost everything is done! But if mama gets too busy, then I'll go right over to Seiya-kun's house to come get you alright?"

"Promise?" Usagi stuck out her pinky and her mother quickly accepted it with her own pinky.

"I promise." And with one swift motion, she took her daughter in for another hug. She was extremely proud to have such a loving daughter.

Not a moment later, Usagi bounced on Seiya to give him a hug. "Seiya-san! I can come tomorrow!" It hurt his ears when she bellowed into his ear, but he found he couldn't move. He felt a blush rising on his face as the little girl continued to cling tightly onto him. Though why he was developing a blush, he had no clue. For all he knew, she was just a very good friend. Ikuko giggled at the bashful boy and at her daughter, who was clueless of Seiya's reaction to her. With each passing day, she thought more and more about how cute it would be if they were to marry in the future – she really liked Seiya and had no doubt that this boy would always take care of her daughter.

"Ne Seiya-san, can I call you by your first name?" She spoke quietly and slowly, as if she was unsure if he saw their friendship as close as she did, "K…o…u-kun…"

Without thinking, Seiya responded as he chuckled, "Odango, where I come from, Seiya is my first name. Kou is my last name. You can just call me Seiya." He gave her one of the most charming smiles he could muster.

Usagi blushed, not from his smiles, but from embarrassment. She stammered out, "Y-You're from a weird place!" Causing everyone else in the room to laugh.

* * *

The next day came by quickly and Seiya decided to pick up Usagi from next door before his friends arrived.

"Oh good morning Seiya-kun." Ikuko was surprised that Seiya had came over but nevertheless let the little boy in.

"Good morning Mrs Tsukino. I didn't want Odango to walk by herself."

"My my, aren't you a little gentleman, but she's not up yet." He had already expected her not to be awake yet, but couldn't wait to come over anyways. "Would you like to join me for breakfast?"

He nodded and Ikuko set up a plate for him. When she settled in, she looked at him curiously, "Seiya-kun, where are you from?" Until yesterday, she was almost certain that the boy was from Japan. She'd been itching to ask since it was brought up yesterday but never found a good opportunity to do so until now.

Seiya had not expected that question – it confused him. He set his fork down and thought for a second before whispering quietly, "Tokyo…?" He had never given it a second thought since no one had ever asked nor was he ever curious about it. But now, he was thinking hard about it… he had lived in Tokyo for the whole four years he has been alive. His parents looked Japanese for all he knew. Although now carefully thinking about it, he realized how he and Kakyuu didn't resemble either of their parents... nor each other for that matter. _'We are related… right? I'm from Tokyo…'_ With hesitation, he tried to assure himself, as if repeating 'I'm from Tokyo' would make it true. For the briefest moment, he thought he smelled olive blossoms…

"Oh," sensing the boy's discomfort, Ikuko changed subjects, "well I guess the important thing is that you're here now!" The older woman smiled warmly at the frowning boy.

"Right…" Seiya continued to whisper slowly, "There's nowhere else I'd rather be…" but the initial question still bothered him. He made a mental note to ask Kakyuu as soon as she got home from school.

He returned to reality quickly as soon as he saw his friend walk into the kitchen. It was obvious that she had JUST rolled out of bed – her pink bunny pajamas were wrinkled from the night and her gold tresses were down from her usual hairstyle with strands sticking out at odd angles.

"Good morning Odango!" He beamed at her.

"Good morning," she was still groggy and so was barely able to even comprehend that he was there, "mama, what's for breakfast?"

"Scrambled eggs," she inspected her daughter a little closely, "but honey, you have to wash up first. You have a guest."

At her mother's comment, Usagi slowly turned her head, eyes still droopy, to see Seiya climb down from his chair to stand right in front of her.

"How can I call you Odango if you don't have your odangos?" He tugged on a strand of her hair that flowed around her.

Usagi puffed her cheeks, "Then don't call me Odango!" She stuck out her tongue at him and quickly stormed back upstairs to get dressed.

Seiya chuckled and made haste to follow her. He had yet to see her room since they always hung out downstairs. But as soon as he entered her room, he felt a sense of déjà vu. Nostalgia and sadness washed over him as images flashed through his head – images of an overturned picture, a girl with pink hair, and… cake?

An all too unforgettable pain started to rise within him again. He clutched his head in agony as he dropped to his knees. He didn't understand any of the images, nor does he remember it ever happening. It was as if his mind was desperately trying to cling onto these memories that never happened while something was forcing to suppress it. He didn't know what was going on… all he knew is that he wanted it to stop so the pain would go away.

Usagi knew Seiya had been following her into her room but only turned around when she heard a loud thud as her friend fell to the floor. "Seiya!? What's wrong?" She quickly ran to his side in an attempt to help him up.

But just from her cool touch, he found the strength to look up into her eyes. And as he did, he saw her bright blue eyes brimming with tears and he felt… glad. Even though he hated seeing Usagi crying, Seiya was feeling glad that Usagi was finally looking at him and the tears that she shed were for him. _'Wait… Why do I even care about something like that?'_ Just before his head was about to start another internal battle, Usagi hugged him tightly.

The warmth and concern he felt from her was enough to stop him from thinking about anything. His arms rose instinctively to give her a firm hug, reassuring her that he was alright.

On some level she understood him, but she still had to ask, "Are you alright Seiya?" She looked up at him, still worried.

"Yea I'm ok now Odango," he gave her a genuine smile, "Thanks." They hugged for a bit longer until his eyes glanced upwards at her untied hair. "Oh Odango, you should get dressed. I have a present for you." She didn't budge, instead she held tighter on to him, burying her head deeper into his shoulder. He sighed and practically picked her up as he got up from the floor. "Com'on."

Still holding on to her hand, he led her to the vanity… silently noting that he was hallucinating since there was no photo on the dresser. He sat her down, picked up a brush, and held it out in front of her, waiting for her to take it. Usagi looked up at his anticipating face and slowly took the brush. She did her usual hairstyle with extreme ease.

Seiya had sat down on the edge of her bed and was happily swinging his legs while he watched Usagi do her hair. He watched her brush her long golden hair and easily twist it up into a ball on the top of her head. As soon as he saw the two odangos, Seiya grinned. He always thought the odangos were the funniest, but cutest things ever.

Once she was done, he walked over to her and started patting her golden odango. "Seiyaaaaa it's going to come undone." Her little hands waved frantically to swat away Seiya's hands.

"How can I give you your gift if you don't let me come near you?" He chuckled at how agitated Usagi had become and reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a ring of light purple flowers. He placed it gently on the palm of his hands to show his friend. He watched as Usagi's eyes widen in excitement and felt pleased he could make her happy. Already knowing the answer from the twinkle in her eyes, "Do you like it?"

"It's so pretty!" She whispered in awe at her gift.

"My sister taught me how to make a ring from flowers. Lilacs are my favourite so I wanted to give you something that I like." He blushed and abruptly stopped talking, thinking he had said too much. He grinned sheepishly, "May I?" Usagi looked questioningly at Seiya. He merely smiled and moved to carefully fasten the ring of lilacs to her right odango. "There!"

The two stepped back to admire his handiwork in the vanity. "Thank you!" Usagi squealed loudly and went to hug him tightly yet again.

"I'm glad you like it." The smile on her face was contagious; Seiya couldn't stop smiling whenever he saw her happy face. He pulled back from the hug, "you should get dressed. Taiki and Yaten will be at my house soon."

Usagi nodded enthusiastically and headed to her closet to pick out a dress. But she paused for a moment, pouting as she thought carefully about something.

"What are you doing?" Seiya had sat back down on her bed and resumed his leg swinging when he heard all the shuffling stop.

Usagi continued to stare into her closet, "What should I wear?" Since she merely mumbled, Seiya didn't hear her. And as she was about to ask her again, the little blonde girl started to move again, digging further and further into her closet until… "Ah ha!"

Seiya raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to get a better view, curious about what she found. But he didn't have to wait long to find out. Usagi whirled around to face Seiya, holding a pale purple sundress. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Why did you have to look for that dress?"

Pointing to the ring of lilacs on her head, she spoke in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone, "Matches." And it was true – her dress and the lilacs were the same shade of pastel purple.

Seiya smiled sweetly without saying anything. He didn't have the heart to tease his blonde friend.

"Now go out." She giggled, acting like a diva as she pointed to her bedroom door, "I have to change."

The blue-eyed boy played along and gave her a low bow, "Yes ma'am." The two kids laughed as Seiya exited into the hallway and headed back downstairs.

"Mrs. Tsukino?" Ikuko turned around and spotted a black haired boy peering into the kitchen with his long ponytail falling carelessly to the side.

"Seiya-kun?" Her tone was light, meant to kindly tease the little boy.

He smiled, loving to hear the older woman speak to him like that. It made him feel welcomed and be himself in the Tsukino residence. "What time does Odango have to be home?"

Ikuko cleaned her hands on her white apron and crouched to Seiya's level, "How's 4 o'clock sound?"

"Okay." Seiya gave her the biggest smile, making her smile in response. She ruffled his dark bangs a little in affection. It was then that she noticed that the little boy's hair turned blue when it caught the light. But as she glanced again, it was back to its usual black. She brushed it off and thought it to be just a figment of her imagination.

Before she could dwell on it any longer, Usagi walked into the kitchen. "How do I look?" The blonde twirled around, making the purple fabric dance around her body.

"Pretty." Seiya said simply. Her cheeks turned a faint tint of pink but didn't look shy from his words.

Ikuko stole a quick glance between the blushing boy and her giddy daughter and smiled, "These flowers are very nice. Did Seiya-kun give it to you?" She smirked slyly as Usagi's cheeks turned a deep pink that contrasted brightly against her pastel colored dress. The shy blonde nodded sharply as her mother giggle girlishly. Deciding not to tease them anymore, the older Tsukino leaned forward to kiss her daughter on the forehead, "Well get going then you two. Have fun!"

The two kids waved goodbye and hurried out the door. Ikuko watched Seiya's dark ponytail and Usagi's bright golden pigtails swing gently with the wind as they walked side by side down the driveway and out the gate. And as she watched them, she hoped that the future would just be like she's seeing it – Usagi and Seiya together.


	5. Chapter 4

**Enjoy :)**

"Oi Seiya, where were you?"

When Seiya had returned home, Taiki and Yaten had already arrived. They had been waiting for him for about 10 mins and Taiki could not be more relieved since Yaten had been complaining non-stop about the raven-haired boy's whereabouts.

Seiya merely rolled his eyes, "Guys, meet my friend," he stepped aside to reveal his new friend and smirked, "Odango."

She fumed, glaring at the smug Seiya. "My name is Usagi! Tsukino Usagi!" She hoped the other two boys wouldn't start calling her Odango too.

"Pleased to meet you Tsukino-san." Taiki raised an eyebrow as he examined the girl from head to toe. She seemed familiar… too familiar for comfort. Sure, he considered that she looked familiar because she looks similar to the hyper blonde from daycare – long blonde hair with large blue eyes. But upon closer inspection, Taiki realized Usagi was different from daycare girl. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Unlike Taiki, Yaten couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the newcomer. Without even glancing at Usagi, Yaten shouted at Seiya, "You brought a girl here?"

"What? Kakyuu is a girl and she plays with us."

"Yea but she's your sister. She's… different." Yaten paused and frowned, thinking about what made Kakyuu different from everyone else. But his thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Taiki spoke to Usagi.

"Don't mind him. He found out that his _girlfriend_ is leaving for London tomorrow." Taiki chuckled as Yaten went ballistic over his friend's comment, especially since he knew Seiya would never let it go now.

"Yaten has a girlfriend!?" It was news to him, "~Yaten-chan has a girlfriend~" the raven-haired boy started singing the phrase over and over again as he pranced around the living room making kissy faces.

Yaten glared at him, ready to pounce, "What about her? Isn't _Odango_ your girlfriend?" As he pointed at Usagi, he looked at her for the very first time. His intention on shutting Seiya up then punching him went away when he took a good look at Usagi. "You." His expression softened, "I know you." How or where he had met her, he didn't know. But he was certain they've met before. For the briefest moment, an image of a crystal flower flashed through Yaten's mind, disappearing as quickly as it came. However, a warm feeling lingered within him… a feeling he couldn't quite comprehend. He felt like he needed to be nice to this girl so he did the unexpected. "Yaten Kou." He stuck out his hand for a handshake; he snapped his head in an annoyed embarrassment when his friends stared at him, shocked and speechless.

Her face lit up – Usagi was over the moon happy that the mean-looking silver-haired boy was welcoming her now. She had no idea who he was or why he claimed that he knew her. But she wasn't about to push him away, so didn't comment on it and shook his hand. Her wide and cute smile caused him to blush slightly. Aside from Usagi, it did not go unnoticed by the other two boys.

"Why are you blushing?" Seiya was frowning, clearly annoyed by his friend's unusually affectionate reaction – though he didn't understand why he was annoyed … he wanted his friends to like this girl so he didn't know why Yaten's reaction bothered him so much.

Taiki snickered, "Aw Yaten, look carefully. Even though she's blonde with blue eyes, she's not your girlfriend!" With Seiya and Taiki now roaring with laughter, Yaten snatched his hand back and stormed off into the kitchen mumbling and grumbling, leaving Usagi confused.

* * *

The weeks rolled by since their initial meeting. Seiya would make is daily weekday visits to Usagi's house and the four of them would meet together at Seiya's for their weekly Friday gatherings. Although Usagi and Kakyuu had heard a lot about the other, they had yet to meet. Whenever the three boys met with Usagi, Kakyuu would be in school and the children never got together on the weekends. Usagi had expressed interest in meeting her only because the boys sounded as though they held high admiration for her. Kakyuu, on the other hand, was curious as to who Usagi is since she knew the boys don't accept new friends very easily.

"So when do I meet your girlfriend Seiya?" Kakyuu asked teasingly. Although mocking her brother, she was almost eager to meet this mysterious girl.

The siblings were playing on the park swings one afternoon on a warm weekend. His sister's question had caused him to stop swinging abruptly and blush furiously. "Sh-She isn't my g-girlfriend."

"Mmhmm?" Kakyuu smiled mischievously, already knowing the truth through her brother's stammering, "That's good then. Yaten seems to like her very much." She eyed Seiya very carefully and saw that her lie had gotten him thinking.

"She…" Seiya frowned, "Yaten… Yaten likes Odango?" He wasn't really speaking to anyone – repeating the information was helping him comprehend it.

"Does it bother you?"

He was extremely confused, "No…" his response didn't convince anyone, "Yaten doesn't like her. Taiki says that he likes some girl who went to London." Even though Seiya wasn't entirely convinced with his reasoning, Taiki's logical mind was rubbing off on him and he appreciated it since it helped relieved a little of the unexplainable ache in his heart.

Seeing the confusion and pain etched on her brother's face, Kakyuu didn't have the heart to continue teasing him, "So can I meet her?"

Always excited to see Usagi, Seiya nodded eagerly. He held on to Kakyuu's hand and the both of them headed back towards their neighborhood to visit Usagi. They walked in silence – Kakyuu wondering what kind of girl Usagi would be and Seiya was happy to see Usagi but also still confused by what he was feeling. Why was he so attached to her? Why did he feel conflicted when he thought about Kakyuu and Usagi? He had no idea.

The siblings reached Usagi's house and Seiya glanced nervously up at Kakyuu only to see her smiling warmly at him. It reassured him and he pushed the doorbell. They waited on a few minutes, hearing loud crashes and thuds before the door finally opened.

"SEIYA!" Usagi jumped on the little boy and gave him a big hug. "What are you doing here?"

"O-Oi Odango." Flustered by Usagi's warm welcome, Seiya tried to respond. "Kakyuu wanted to meet you. And you said you were going to be home today."

Usagi released him and it was then that she actually noticed Kakyuu standing off to the side, giggling at how unnaturally red her brother had gotten. She was surprised that her usually 'need-to-act-cool' little brother would let himself get so flustered in front of others.

Usagi greeted the older girl, "Nice to meet you oneechan. My name is Tsukino Usagi."

Kakyuu's giggling subsided and she smiled kindly, "Good to finally meet you. Seiya doesn't stop talking about you." She saw the look Seiya gave her and started to giggle again, causing him to sigh in defeat – he knew his sister would never stop teasing him.

Looking to change the subject, Seiya spoke up, "Odango, you want to play with us today? I saw some more lilacs in the park. Since the flowers I gave you already wilted, I can make you another one."

Usagi's face lit up immediately, "I'd love to!" She paused, "Wait a moment. I'm going to ask mama." She hurried back inside to the kitchen but in moments, she was out again. "I can go out today!" So the siblings headed back to the park again with their companion.

"This is so hard." Usagi was not one for delicate crafts. The three had sat on the grass, near a patch of lilacs for almost an hour. Kakyuu was teaching Usagi how to make a ring out of flowers while Seiya was focused on making one himself. "Yours look so pretty." Usagi pouted sadly when she compared her flowers to Kakyuu's perfect one. Kakyuu smiled at her – she understood now why her brother and the other two boys liked her so much. Although she couldn't explain it, Kakyuu sensed a warm aura around Usagi – it was so friendly and affectionate. "It just takes practice Usagi-chan." She leaned in and placed a hand over the other girl's hands to comfort her. But the moment their hands connected, they stared at it in a daze.

The sudden quietness and tension that filled the air brought Seiya's focus away from the flowers and he looked at the two girls. "What's wrong?"

No one spoke. No one _dared_ speak… too afraid that if they spoke, they would never understand their confusion. Although worried, Seiya had, to an extent, realized the importance of this as he held his breath waiting to see what would happen.

They felt a very mild sense of déjà vu. But it was overwhelmed by the strong wave that pulsated between the two girls. It was like a raging fire was created where their skin connected – a spark of pink and fiery orange rushed together, clashing into a blinding red fire. At first, this fire resonated between them and then it started to spread slowly up their arms and throughout their whole body, leaving a familiar sense of warmth as an aftertaste.

Minutes, that seemed like hours or days, had passed. Seiya almost missed it when he heard whispers in the breeze… _almost._

"Fireball Princess…"  
"Sailor moon…"

Both of them whispered almost inaudibly at the same time, unaware of what the other was saying. But as soon as the words left their lips, both reacted differently. Usagi had simply collapsed onto the grass. Kakyuu, however, was not as lucky. Just before she fell, the warmth turned into a scorching pain that all gathered in her skull. Falling face forward on to the soft grass, Kakyuu clutched her head in agony.

Seiya froze in his spot when he heard them speak. He didn't understand what they were saying, but for some reason, he felt like he knew who they were talking about. Before he had time to ponder, he realized that the two girls had fallen over – he needed to prioritize… and right now, he needed to take care of them.

Seeing that Kakyuu was in a more dire situation than Usagi, he went to her first. He placed a hand over his sister's forehead, "Are you alright?" Seiya was close to tears as he realized that there was nothing he could really do. To his relief, Kakyuu had slowly gotten up and gave him a weak smile. Her brother's small warm trembling hands actually cooled the burning fire. Her head was still throbbing but for the most part, she was alright. Seiya hurried to Usagi's side. It took her a little longer to recover. She had momentarily blacked out but woke up to see a pair of large midnight blue eyes looking down at her… worried.

"Are you ok Odango?" He gently brushed away the golden tendrils that had fallen over her face.

The touch of his fingers and the sound of his voice soothed her. She didn't experience any pain, but was still having difficulties comprehending what was going on around her. She merely whimpered as a response. Seiya sighed a breath of relief - both girls were alright.

"We should go home." Kakyuu had already gotten up from the grass and was waiting for Seiya to follow. She tried to put a smile on her face but it was still evident that she was disturbed. And Seiya recognized it. He was not one to argue with Kakyuu, especially not when she was irritated. He quietly helped Usagi up and the three of them walked home in complete silence.

The moment they finished their farewells and Usagi had walked out of earshot, Kakyuu turned sharply to face her brother, "Seiya," he noticed the seriousness in her facial expression and tone of voice. The authority held in her voice frightened him, "don't play with her anymore."

He was speechless. There were no words to explain how he was feeling – shock, sadness, heartache, fear… Seiya just stood on the side of the street staring at his sister, close to tears but none ever fell. He couldn't believe what she had just told him that. "Wh-" Before he could ask why, she had already turned around and headed home.

Had it been anyone else, Seiya would not have listened and continued to visit Usagi. But this was his sister – one he loved unconditionally and loved him back. He could never defile his sister's wishes. But there was nothing to say regarding it anyways – Kakyuu sounded too firm for him to argue. The little boy's eyes darkened; he wanted to scream, to cry loudly, not caring about anyone who might hear him. Although he wanted to just wallow in his tears, they wouldn't come. He didn't know if it was because of the shock or that he was just sad to the point that his body went completely paralyzed. He didn't know how long he had been standing there… just standing in the middle of the street, staring at the ground, numb to any sort of emotion. It wasn't until the street light turned on from the darkening skies that Seiya realized how late it was and he finally looked up. Seiya sighed heavily as he slowly turned his head to look at Usagi's house, silently bidding farewell to his friend.

**Hi guys! Please let me know how I'm doing! I'd really love some feedback, good or bad :)  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi! Thanks for reading :) I hope you'll like this new chapter. It's starting to pick up now!**

Kakyuu had never explained why she had forbidden Seiya from seeing Usagi. Ever since that day she tried hard to remember what she saw or even what happened, but she couldn't remember much – all she remembered was that the intense pain developed from being around Usagi. Although she felt… she _knew_… Usagi would never intentionally hurt her little brother, she wanted to prevent Seiya from experiencing the pain she felt that day in the park, never knowing that Seiya had already felt that same pain when he first stepped into Usagi's room. All Kakyuu wanted to do was to protect her little brother.

Seiya, on the other hand, thought it was unfair of Kakyuu to ask such a request but he never had the nerve to question her. As much as he wanted to just let it all out, the tears never came. It was killing him yet he couldn't think of anything to do about it - nothing would change the situation and he was just completely frustrated with the whole ordeal. Instead, he had become extremely stoic and quiet from depression for the first couple of weeks. Even though Seiya tried to act as though everything was fine, Yaten and Taiki saw right through it. They saw how their usually cheery friend had lost his liveliness and cocky attitude.

"That moron, she's just a girl." Yaten had repeated these same words everyday in daycare when he discovered what had happened. It was like he was trying to convince himself by repeating it over and over again, but he knew it wasn't true. Usagi was special… and not just for Seiya. He sighed yet again, trying to think of ways to cheer up his friend.

"You should know how he feels." Seeing Yaten's puzzled expression, Taiki continued, "You and Seiya are very similar. Both of you can't see your girlfriends anymore." Before he heard Yaten's offended complaints, Taiki chuckled and returned to his book. He had spent the last couple of days reading more than ever.

After several long minutes, Yaten realized that Taiki was ignoring his complaints. He huffed and stopped, "Why are you reading so much?" He leaned in closer to Taiki to get a good look at the book, "What are you reading?" It was bad enough that Seiya barely spoke, but Taiki was practically ignoring him too – all this quietness amongst was starting to drive Yaten insane.

Taiki stopped reading once again and turned towards his silver-haired friend, "Aerodynamics of-" He saw Yaten frown in confusion. He sighed and decided just to summarize, "It's about how to safely jump between rooftops."

"Why are you reading something like that? You planning on being a thief? That sounds like fun. Will you take me with you? When ar-"

"It's for Seiya." Taiki interrupted Yaten's ramblings, which only seemed to happen when he was bored.

"…Sei…ya…?" Yaten finally realized what Taiki was getting at. "But he won't go. Kakyuu told him not to."

"I'm not telling him to go see Tsukino-san. I'm just teaching him how to jump across roofs." Taiki said innocently. If it was anyone who could find a loophole, it was Taiki. "For some reason, I think Seiya would be good at it…" A silhouette of scantily dressed shadows leaping between buildings all across town in the dark of night flashed through his head. Since he couldn't quite make out anything, Taiki dismissed it, thinking it was some scene from some movie he watched. But before he continued talking, he shook his head violently to shake off the oncoming headache he felt. "Anyways, uh… yes. Seiya needs to get out of the house and take his mind off things."

"And getting Seiya to do something dangerous is the only way you could think of?" Yaten raised his eyebrow skeptically.

"You have another idea?"

Yaten rolled his eyes, "Your idea will get that clumsy idiot killed."

"Won't you be happy about that?" Taiki smirked when Yaten rolled his eyes yet again. He returned to reading his book, "But I won't let that happen. I'm going to make sure I have all the information before telling him." He was secretly glad that the distance between the Kou house and Tsukino house was not very big. Yaten could see him concentrating hard and he too decided to help Taiki's little endeavor by being quiet - Yaten knew he could never out-think Taiki and leaving Taiki alone to think would be the best way he could help. But it was boring.

"The dynamics of it is fairly simple really." Taiki knew that Yaten wouldn't understand… Yaten was more of a sounding board for him and sometimes it drove the latter crazy.

"Can't you explain it so that normal people can understand?" Yaten hated feeling stupid or even useless. But Taiki merely ignored his question and continued his train of thought, silently now. Seeing his friend ignore him, Yaten pouted, frustrated that he was unable to get Taiki's attention. He suddenly remembered something, "You do know that there's a ladder on the side of Usagi-san's house right?"

Without even bothering to look up, Taiki was nevertheless glad that Yaten was willing to help, "I'm aware. But the only way he can get out of the house at night time is from his window, which you know is connected to his roof. It'll be more difficult for him to get from his room to the ground floor to climb up that ladder."

Somewhat irked from being shot down by Taiki, his mind wandered… now wondering how bad it would be if they sided with Kakyuu and stopped Seiya from seeing Usagi. A flash crossed his mind and the next thing he saw was him carrying a bloody Seiya down an alleyway.

The images faded immediately when Yaten felt as if his head was about to explode. It was a good thing he was sitting on the floor because he curled up and fell over to the side, digging his fingers into his head. Never showing people any kind of weakness, Yaten held back the screams but groaned loudly.

Taiki ignored him when he fell over, thinking that Yaten was only doing so to catch his attention. But when his silver-haired friend didn't get up and started to groan, he knew something was wrong.

"Yaten!" Taiki was immediately by his friend's side, "What's wrong?" He was raking his brain, searching for any useful information to help Yaten. But he couldn't think of anything. He could only grab Yaten's hand to stop him from digging his nails further into his head. Taiki was just about to yell for an adult for help when he felt Yaten's body relax.

"Taiki…?" his voice was incredibly weak and his body limp. Taiki propped his friend up against the wall.

"What happened?" Taiki's voice was serious but Yaten could tell he was extremely worried.

"I'm not sure…" he groaned softly, "I saw something, and then my head hurt… like… burning." Yaten had neglected to let Taiki know that it was because of the touch from his cold hands that diminished the heat of the pain.

"What did you see?" Taiki needed more information in order to discover what had happened and find a way to help him.

"I saw…" Yaten's eyes closed tightly as he tried to recall the images, but he was having troubles remembering as his memory of it was fading quickly, "I'm not too sure. "A flash and Seiya bleeding. But only…" His emerald eyes narrowed as he remembered something important, "Seiya looked older."

Stunned by the information, Taiki composed himself and processed the information that was given. "Are you having premonitions? Like… are you seeing the future?" Due to his weakened state, Taiki decided to use simple words just this once.

"Don't think… so," Yaten breathed heavily and relaxed against the wall, glad that the pain was fading, "it felt more like... a memory. Familiar." Breathing out his last words was like breathing out the pain and then he fell asleep.

Frowning, Taiki remembered when he also felt a sense of familiarity – when he first met Usagi. Like Yaten, he felt like he already knew Usagi but was sure that they had never met before. He hadn't delved into the matter since he deemed it irrelevant. But Yaten's recent experience had gotten him thinking… and it was going to require some extensive research.

* * *

A few days had passed by and all that was left in Taiki's roof-jumping idea was for Seiya to practise. Using his friend's depression as an excuse, Taiki convinced Yaten and his parents to drop them off at Seiya's house during the day instead of daycare. That way, he can appropriately measure the distance between the two houses then adjust his calculations accordingly.

"You want me to jump to Odango's house?" Seiya raised his eyebrows skeptically in exactly the same manner that Yaten had when he had initally heard Taiki's idea, "What would I do when I get there? Kakyuu said not to play with her." His shoulders slumped in misery. He sighed loudly, one of many of the day and most definitely not the last.

"Why?" It puzzled him since Yaten always thought that Kakyuu was a kind person and wouldn't tell Seiya to do something without reasoning.

So Seiya told them everything that had happened in the park. To his surprise, the two other boys did not badger him with questions of concerns like he expected. Taiki was deep in thought while Yaten looked at him with fear in his eyes. It confused him that his friends didn't say anything, "What?"

"Something like that happened to Yaten too." Taiki stared at Yaten, waiting for him to tell Seiya what had happened. But Yaten shrugged – aside from the pain, he doesn't remember anything. Taiki's amethyst eyes narrowed as if analyzing Yaten's condition, wondering what had happened and why he doesn't remember a single thing. "So... I was reading when Yaten fell over in a lot of pain. When he woke up, he told me he saw a flash and then saw an older version of you bloody in his arms."

A very, very small part of him was amused, "You dreamed about me dying?" but Seiya was mostly upset, thinking that one of his best friends would want him dead.

Yaten sneered and punched his blue-eyed friend lightly on the shoulder, "Don't be stupid. You know I don't want that." It was the truth - he in no way wanted Seiya dead.

"It's odd…" Taiki was deep in thought. "By the way, what were you thinking about before that happened?" He hoped that Yaten would remember something.

Yaten closed his eyes to concentrate. He was having difficulties remembering, but still he tried. "Well… Taiki was ignoring me when he was reading on how to teach you how to jump across rooftops. So… I-I uh… um… was trying to think of ways to help. Then… then I was… thinking what would happen if we agreed with Kakyuu and stopped Seiya from seeing Usagi-san. And then I blacked out." He opened his eyes quickly – he hoped that not focusing on those thoughts would prevent the headache that was developing from getting more painful.

"So… if you guys don't help me be with Odango, I'll die." Seiya spoke slowly, attempting to come up with a feasible explanation.

Yaten and Taiki sniggered, "You wish," causing Seiya to scowl.

"Anyways," Taiki began again. He knew that dwelling on it now was pointless even if Seiya's conclusion made sense, even if only a little. "No point thinking about it now. Com'on I'll tell you about my brilliant jumping idea." After hearing everything, Taiki was more determined than ever to find a cause and solution to the whole matter.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, the boys started practicing jumping on the ground after Taiki carefully measured the distance between the roofs. They had added a few extra metres for safety. And Taiki's instincts were correct – Seiya was able to jump the distance and more. And surprisingly, Seiya had caught on pretty quickly, which made Taiki move on to the next exercise – jumping from ramp to ramp, still on the floor in Seiya's backyard. He wanted to make sure Seiya would land properly and not slip off the roof. After a few hours of practicing, Seiya had jumped safely across the ramps without falling or even slipping. Slightly bored, Yaten also started jumping and teased Seiya since he was able to catch on faster than Seiya. Then he insisted that Taiki do so just for fun. The three boys were practicing jumping on the ramps for days before they finally decided it was safe to try on the roof.

"You ready?" Taiki was worried… _"What if he falls and dies? I would be responsible for my friend's death."_

"Yea." Seiya was excited and nervous. But his determination to see Usagi was stronger than anything else he felt. "Wait for me Odango…" his whisper carried into the wind.

"Hurry up!" Yaten yelled from the ground. He was dragging a mattress around to catch Seiya if he fell.

But he didn't need to use it. Seiya jumped… _flew_… in the air as he leaped lightly off his rooftop. Taiki held his breath as he watched his friend in the air and was relieved when Seiya landed perfectly on the other side.

"YOU DID IT!" Yaten and Taiki both screamed with joy. "I DID IT!" Seiya yelled back. They were jumping in celebration when Seiya heard a door open. He quickly jumped back to his own rooftop to join Taiki.

"I'm so glad you didn't die." Taiki gave Seiya big hug, Yaten had already ran up on to the roof to join them.

When they all pulled back, Seiya turned towards Usagi's house, whispering as if Usagi could hear him, "I'll always be by your side Odango."

* * *

Despite being neighbours, Usagi hadn't seen Kakyuu, Seiya, Taiki, or Yaten since that day in the park. She was saddened by the fact that Seiya never visited her again or even greeted her when she tried to visit. But when a few months had passed by, she started finding flowers on her balcony floor every couple of weeks – usually one long stemmed rose or a small cluster of lilacs. There was never a note or any other indication of who it was from but Usagi knew. From the moment she received lilacs, she knew... they were from Seiya. From then on, she looked forward to it, waiting everyday for one to arrive. How he was able to get it on her balcony, why he kept giving her flowers, or even why he never spoke to her again, she didn't know. All she knew was that he never forgot about her. And for a long time, that was enough for her… it was enough for the both of them, given the circumstances.

**Please review! pretty please? Let me know how I'm doing! **


	7. Chapter 6

**Hi! Please enjoy!**

Usagi woke up to the bright sun peeking in through her room. It wasn't often she woke up so early, but it was just too bright for her to sleep any longer. She yawned and stretched… and stretched and stretched. She didn't want to get up.

"Usagi! Wake up! You're going to be late for school!" Her mother's voice echoed through the house.

It was the first day of junior high but she wasn't excited – she hated school… only because she had to wake up early and do homework. But still she dragged herself out of bed and when she stretched again, something caught her eye. There, sitting on the balcony floor, was a large bouquet of pink roses.

Usagi's face lit up as she excitedly headed towards the balcony door. Her heart swelled as she scooped it up and caught a whiff of the sweet scent of the flowers. Not only was it the first time she received such a large bouquet, but something else surprised her. Sitting snuggly in the center of pink was a white piece of paper with scribbles: 'Have a good day at school Odango!' – It was the first time she received a note with the flowers. Usagi had the brightest smile on her face as she reread the note again. She closed her eyes and smelled the sweet rose scent again. If she wasn't so distracted, she would have noticed the raven-haired guy with a long ponytail, who was looking up at her balcony, turn around to leave after seeing how happy Usagi was.

She grabbed a vase and placed the flowers neatly in it and positioned it carefully on her vanity. '_Eleven…?' _ Usagi had just noticed that there were eleven pink roses instead of a dozen. She shrugged it off since she was happy to receive any flowers at all… happy enough that she was actually glad to have woken up early. Not only did she receive more flowers than she normally got, but also she had received a note with it for the very first time. Thinking about it just made her keep smiling, all the way through breakfast and on her way to school. So lost in her thoughts and blissfulness, she reached her new school in no time.

"Good morning Naru~chan~" Usagi had found her class and was delighted to know that her long time friend was in the same class as her. Sitting in the front row, Usagi quickly sat at the desk beside her perky red-head friend to claim it.

"Good morning Usagi-chan! You're surprisingly early!" Naru noted how happy her friend was, "Are you alright? You're happy even though we have school?" A mischievous smile formed on her lips, "Or did something happen between you and your secret admirer?"

Caught off guard, Usagi absently rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly, "That obvious huh?" If there was anyone who knew her, it was Naru. Even though no name was ever given, Naru was the only person Usagi had ever told about the flowers. She was always excited to live vicariously through Usagi, envious of her secret love. Every time Naru would ask Usagi who this mysterious guy is but Usagi would always respond with a mischievous smirk, never revealing the secret. Nevertheless, she loved the stories. So Usagi went on to tell her best friend about her morning and the flowers.

"Aw Usagi-chan that's so romantic! You're such a lucky girl!" Naru sighed and stared dreamily out the window, wishing that one day she too can have romance. Usagi smiled as her thoughts drifted to the memories of a dark haired boy with beautiful dark blue eyes, wondering what he looked like now and if she would ever see him again.

Both of them were so lost in their thoughts that neither of them noticed the pair of eyes that was staring intensely at the blonde from the back of the room.

* * *

By the end of the day, Usagi was beat – school had always been her worst enemy. So instead of staying after school to check out the extracurricular activities/clubs like the other students, she decided to just leave early and do it tomorrow. Usagi had just finished putting on her outdoor shoes and headed out towards the front gates when suddenly…

A pink rose.

Her path was blocked by the pink rose that had just popped out in front of her. Someone was holding it out at her… someone who had been hiding behind the walls surrounding the school to catch her by surprise. And surprised she was.

Usagi's heart began to race. Her eyes travelled from the soft pink petals of the rose to the long fingers holding lazily on to its long stem, to the smooth tanned hands and up the long arms covered by the boy's school uniform. Her eyes continued to travel slowly up to his face… '_Is this him?'_ Her heart fluttered rapidly as her huge cerulean eyes finally landed on his midnight blue ones. It was just as she remembered – amazingly blue, captivating with the mystery behind the darkness but so full of life and love.

And the pair of eyes she remembered so well never left her face as he was watching her slowly turned towards him…

"It's been a long time," he smiled warmly, eyes boring into hers, "Odango."

"Sei…ya?" Many times she had dreamed of seeing him again but had always been disappointed. So now, she was uncertain whether or not she was hallucinating. Usagi slowly lifted her hands to reach out towards his outstretched arms, wanting to touch him and make sure he was actually here with her. Her delicate fingers brushed hesitantly against his hands. But as soon as she felt his warmth through her fingertips, a huge grin broke out on her face and she pounced on him to embrace him. "SEIYA!" It was as if nothing had changed… Usagi greeted Seiya the same way as she had done so when they were children. The only difference now was that her arms could no longer be wrapped firmly around his neck but around his chest.

Seiya's arms instantly wrapped around her as he clutched her tightly, relishing in the moment that had been too long overdue. He buried his head into her hair and breathed deeply. Oh how much he had missed her… how much he wanted to talk to her, hug her, and see her laugh. It had been torture for him to only be able to watch her from afar – the flowers were his lifeline as he saw how she lit up when she received each one throughout the years. "I missed you."

Usagi smiled into his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She held on for just a moment longer before deciding to back away and ask him the question that had been bothering her for all these years. "Why didn't you come see me again?"

Seiya had expected something like this, but still, he didn't account for the sadness and hurt he heard in her voice. "I'm sorry. It's just... I… It's complicated." He sighed miserably, afraid that Usagi will never talk to him again, "I really am sorry. You can be mad at me forever, but I just wanted to give you this flower to complete the dozen in the bouquet I gave you this morning."

"You just… wanted to…give me… this flower…" her head dropped sadly. She slowly reached out to take the flower just as the tears started to fall, "Thank you." And walked away, thinking that that was all he wanted to talk to her about.

Realizing she misunderstood his words he quickly grabbed her hand, swung her around and hugged her tightly. She shuddered as she felt his hot breath against her ear, "That's not what I meant. Odango, if I had a choice, I would've never stopped hanging out with you. This flower is only an excuse for me to talk to you again." His arms tightened around her.  
When Seiya was dropping off the bouquet of flowers for Usagi this morning, he noticed her uniform hanging on her closet and realized that they were going to be in the same school. It was then that he decided to use the flower as an icebreaker to apologize to her. So he plucked a rose out of the bunch, scribbled a note, and waited all day for a chance to talk to her alone – he could not feel luckier when he saw her in his class, even though she hadn't noticed at all.

"You didn't need the flower to come talk to me." Tears were falling freely and steadily as he held her tighter. "I came by your house everyday looking for you."

"I know Odango," he felt so guilty but telling her about Kakyuu didn't feel right, "I'm so sorry. I wished everyday that I could see you. I saw how upset you had become after… that. That's why I gave you flowers. Remember the first time we met? I gave you flowers and you couldn't stop smiling so I wanted to give you flowers as a way to cheer you up again." He pulled back slightly to wipe away the tears streaked down her cheeks, "You look so beautiful when you smile." He blushed when he realized what he had just said but didn't regret it for a second.

Usagi was blushing too. Never in her life did anyone say that to her, especially not a boy, "I was always happy to get the flowers," she blushed as she continued, "I was happy because it meant you still remember me. I thought I'd never see you again."

Seiya glided his hand from her shoulders across the smooth pale skin of her jaw-line and his slender fingers tucked under her chin, tilting it up towards his face. He stared at her lips and had a huge urge to feel her pink luscious lips with his own. Yet, at the same time, he felt like he shouldn't… or wasn't suppose to . '_But why? She's single and she's not stopping me. Why do I even want to kiss her? I've been waiting for this for forever… wait… when did I even fall in love with her.'_ A million thoughts ran through his head but all of it went away when his eyes peeked open for a second, he saw her face. Usagi had her eyes closed, anticipating the kiss she thought he was instigating. His angel was _waiting_ for him and him alone at this very moment. He paused, mesmerized by her beauty. His hand involuntarily brushed against her silky soft cheek and he saw how his touch made her lips curl up into a sweet, shy smile. Seeing her smile prompted him to continue his descend towards her lips. He lowered his face very slowly, waiting to see if Usagi would object to his advances but she made no indication of leaving or even moving for that matter.  
But the action of moving closer to kiss her was giving him a headache. It was a very mild throbbing that he ignored easily. What he couldn't ignore was the faint sensation of his lips brushing against her cheek. To his knowledge, he had never given her…or _anyone_… a kiss of any kind anywhere. But he couldn't brush off the faint impression that he had before and the memory of it was causing the pain to grow exponentially. But Seiya fought it… there was no way a headache was going to stop him from kissing her. He inched a little fast towards her, hoping he could reach her lips before the pain could stop him.

It was almost as if she sensed his urgency, so she leaned up towards him to encourage him. But like her usual clumsy self, Usagi misjudged the gap between them, leaned in too far and her face fell right on to his. She felt his lips curl into a smile – Usagi figured it was more likely he was smirking.

Surprised by the accident, Seiya was nevertheless delighted as he smiled into the kiss and supported her up against him. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss, his lips clinging hungrily on to hers.  
The world melted around them. It was as if there was no one else around them and that nothing else mattered. And so they continued to be locked together for what they thought wasn't long enough before they had to part for air.

He rested his forehead against hers as they breathed heavily, "I knew you couldn't resist me Odango." He smirked and closed his eyes to recall the kiss they had just shared. The moment her lips landed on his, the pain he felt suddenly just… vanished. He couldn't explain it… but he didn't care, nor could he really remember it anyways. It was like a dream come true for Seiya so all that was on his mind right now was his first kiss with Usagi… his first kiss _ever._

Usagi was also out of breath, "Please don't ever leave me again Seiya."

"Never," Seiya promised, "never again." He leaned in and gave her multiple light kisses before pulling away. He held out his hand in front of her, waiting for hers.

A wide grin formed on her face. As she was reaching out to hold his hand, she changed her mind. Usagi quickly snatched it back and held both her hands on the long stem of her pink rose. She held her nose high and started to walk away. "I have to think about dating creepy guys who sneak on to girl's balcony at night." A giggle escaped her lips.

Realizing that Usagi was teasing him, Seiya smiled mischievously as he ran to catch up with her, "Who said anything about dating, Odango. A lot of girls want me. I can't get tied down to one." He saw her exasperated look and winked at her. But not a moment later, he regretted his words.

"I lost my first kiss to a player!" Usagi had stopped walking and was now wailing loudly on the street. "How could you do that to me?!"

Rather amused by her reaction and pleased to learn that he had taken her first kiss, Seiya still couldn't stand to see her cry. He shouted louder than her cries, "I'm just kidding! I only love you!"

Silence.

"What?" Usagi had stopped crying and could not believe what he just blurted out in the middle of the street.

Seiya's eyes grew as large as plates and was blushing furiously. He had his head down as he started walked quickly away without saying another word. _'Why did I say that? When did I even fall in love with her…? We JUST started talking again. I can't believe I told her that here, of all places.'_

"Where are you going?" Usagi cried after him. She started sobbing again and immediately, the blushing Seiya was in front of her again. Still without speaking or looking up, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to walk beside him. She wiped her face nosily and grinned happily as the two headed back home together with their fingers interlocked.

Seiya walked quickly, which confused Usagi – she didn't understand why he wanted to get home so soon… _'Does he want to get away from me as soon as possible?'_

When they were in front of her house, Seiya stopped abruptly, turned towards her and whispered quickly, "Meet me on your balcony at 9 tonight." He paused briefly, took a deep breath, and gave her a chaste kiss. As he pulled back, Usagi could see that he was blushing a delicate shade of pink and thought that it only made him more handsome as he gave her his most charming smile. But it was short-lived –Seiya quickly headed back into his house.

Standing alone in front of her gate, Usagi sighed with content. She was over the moon that Seiya was back in her life and he _loved_ her, but most importantly, she was happy because Seiya promised never to leave her again. Ever since she met him, she couldn't shake the feeling that if Seiya ever left, she'd never see him again. But now that he promised, she knew he would never break his promise to her… and she felt strangely… relieved.

'_I can't wait to see him again tonight.'_ Usagi ran inside her house and waited all night for her secret rendezvous with Seiya.

****Please review!****


	8. Chapter 7

**Please enjoy :)**

Throughout the night, Usagi was watching the clock. Time was ticking by so slowly… wayyyyy too slowly for her. She couldn't wait to meet up with Seiya, but the night was just dragging on. She resorted to reading her manga but she couldn't really focus on it – she kept checking the clock then her balcony every couple of minutes. When 9 o'clock rolled by, she eagerly looked up to see if Seiya was on her balcony… no one was there. Pouting slightly, Usagi figured that he might just be running late but schemed on how to give him hell for it.

5 minutes went by…  
Followed by another 5 minutes…  
And then another 5 minutes…

It was now 9:15pm. Usagi had become increasingly disappointed as each minute ticked by. She didn't know if Seiya had just been messing with her and decided not to see her now, or maybe she just hallucinated the whole encounter. She sighed loudly and just decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air and perhaps cry a little without her parents hearing her.

She slid open her balcony doors and felt a light breeze wrap around her. The night air smelled fresh, like a fresh wind after a summer storm… and something else. There was a very faint sweet scent she couldn't quite identify but nevertheless, it smelled pleasant. She took a step over the threshold when…

"You're late."

Seiya's head was suddenly hanging upside down just inches from her face, his long ponytail hanging down as it almost touched the floor. He wore an annoyed yet amused expression when he saw Usagi face. It was almost like slow motion as he watched her eyes budge in surprise and her mouth gradually open to scream in fear. But he was quicker than her. Seiya used one hand to hold on to the roof as his other slid to the back of Usagi's head to help him press his lips firmly against hers. He needed to stop her from screaming and waking up the whole neighborhood and in his current position, kissing her seemed to be his only option… not that he minded at all.  
Usagi's screams were muffled as it was caught by Seiya's lips. She caught on quickly as to what was happening and who was kissing her; she raised her hands and placed it on his head, feeling his soft raven locks between her fingers.

Seiya loved to feeling of Usagi's fingers tangled in his hair and could definitely get use to it. Getting too enthusiastic, Seiya leaned in a little further to deepen the kiss which made him lose his grip on the roof. He quickly propped himself back upright into a more comfortable position on the roof as he smirked at the blushing Usagi. "What was that for?" She said quietly and turned away in a poor attempt to hide her embarrassment.

Needing to keep his cool, not to mention calm down, Seiya merely shrugged as if the kiss was nothing, "Don't want you to wake up the whole neighborhood Odango." He winked at her, causing her to blush even more. Chuckling, "Come on. I have to talk to you." He held out his hand, waiting for her to accept it so he could prop her up on to the roof.

She looked at his hand confused, "Why can't we talk in my room?"

"Odango…" A slight pink tint was forming on his face but still, he looked at her slyly, "I know I'm hot and you want me. But we're still young." He almost fell off the roof laughing at her expression. Seiya was glad she couldn't reach him otherwise she would've hit him for making such a perverted comment, "I'm just kidding! I just don't want your parents to walk in and see me in your room at night. And besides, it's nice out tonight. You can see a lot of stars." He held out his hand once again. Seeing his genuine smile, Usagi reached for it without hesitation and Seiya pulled her up in one swift motion.

"So," she brushed off the non-existent dust from her shorts as she sat on the roof, "what did you want to talk about?" Usagi was nervous – she didn't know what to expect. Was she about to hear him declare his love for her… again? How would she even respond to something like that…

He cleared his throat slightly and turned his gaze towards the starry night, "I just wanted to tell you why I didn't visit you anymore since that day."

This was not something Usagi had expected… "I thought you said you couldn't tell me why."

"I did. But when we kissed," both teenagers had turned pink at the memory, "I realized that I never want to lie to you. I don't want to hide anything from you." He shifted uncomfortably; "I just want to explain myself so you won't hate me…" he finished almost inaudibly.

Usagi reached out and slid her hands into his, wrapping her fingers around his. He turned to see her smiling kindly at him, "I could never hate you Seiya. If I hate you, I wouldn't be here with you right now."

Seeing her smiling face and hearing her words of encouragement, he couldn't help but smile back. Seiya took a deep breath and looked back at the stars before he started. He had to look away because if he looked into Usagi's eyes, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to tell his story. "So that day in the park…"  
He told her how his sister had forbid him to play with her again after they collapsed and went on to tell her that he had this unexplainable rule never to defile Kakyuu. Seiya mentioned how Taiki and Yaten taught him how to get from his house to hers safely and they decided that even if the two of them can't play together, Seiya could still give her flowers. He finished off with why he finally decided to talk to her, "when I noticed we were going to be in the same school, Kakyuu can't really blame me for talking to you since we can't really avoid each other."

Usagi was speechless… so many comments and questions were swimming in her head that she didn't know where to start. A whole pile of information was just dumped on her and she needed time to process everything. So she sat there, staring at him with wide glossy eyes. She felt like crying. Hatred was not a feeling she had towards Seiya… it was guilt. She felt as if she didn't deserve the devotion Seiya had given her – if it hadn't been for her, Seiya wouldn't have put himself in danger nor would he have to choose between seeing her or keeping her sister's wishes.

The two sat in silence, Usagi staring at Seiya as he looked up at the stars, still afraid to face her. But the silence was killing him… he needed to know how Usagi felt about all of this… did she understand why he chose to do what he did? Would she still want to remain friends after all this? He was dying to know. His hands tightened a little around Usagi's when he closed his eyes and held his breath, "D-Do y-"

"I'm so sorry Seiya." Seiya's eyes shot open as he turned to face Usagi. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry that you put yourself in danger just to see me…" an image of a bright light hitting Seiya flashed before her eyes but she ignored it, "I'm sorry that even now, you have to choose between Kakyuu and me." She flung her arms around him and sobbed loudly into his shoulders.

Seiya wasted no time and hugged her back tightly. He smiled into her strawberry scented hair, "None of this is your fault Odango. And no matter what happens, I would always choose you… you mean too much to me." He smiled as he felt her cling tighter on to him, but he had to pull back. "Odango," He wiped the tears gently from her cheeks and turned around to grab something from his pocket. His was still nervous, but now for a completely different reason. "I know it's probably too soon to ask, but…" he took a deep breath, opened his hands between them and presented his gift to her, "will you go out with me?"

Usagi started to tear up again. In his hands was a ring of lilacs… just like the ones he had given her when they were children. As much as she wanted to say yes, something was bothering her, "But what about Kakyuu? She doesn't like me. "

"I don't think she doesn't like you." Seiya had years to think about it. Despite not receiving an answer yet, he moved closer towards to Usagi, reaching for one of her odangos. He answered her calmly, "She's just concerned that whatever happened between you two will happen to me." Finished fastening the ring on to her hair, he leaned back to admire it… to admire her. And his loving gaze made her blush shyly. He brushed his fingers against her cheeks, wanting to feel the warmth of her blush. Usagi instinctively closed her eyes and leaned into his gentle caress.

Seiya saw how content she looked and how cute she was when her lips formed a smile. Just like this afternoon, the words slipped out again, "I love you so much Odango."

"I love you too Seiya." She had unconsciously spoken the words she had so carefully guarded, guarded until she met her special someone. It had so easily rolled off her tongue but she didn't regret it. Not one bit, because to her, Seiya was very special. There was an indescribable attachment towards him that had been buried deep within her soul… she was terrified of losing him. He was someone she had waited for all these years and would be devastated if he left her side, ever.

Holding her closer, Seiya planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. For the very first time in his life, he felt complete. All he'll ever need was right here…in his arms, speaking words that were like music to his hears. "Can you say it again?"

"No." Usagi giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.

Taken aback, he leaned back and gave her his best puppy eyes, "Please?"

She stopped giggling but still wore a mischievous smile. She made a face, pretending to think whether or not she should heed to his request. "Hmmmmm I _guess_ I love you!" Usagi beamed at him.

"I love you too." He started to lean in, as if to kiss her. But his lips lingered just against her, his hot breath tickling her skin. She felt his soft lips barely brushing against hers as he spoke. "You still haven't answered me Odango. Will you go out with me?"

Smiling at his words, "Yes." She immediately felt his lips pressed tenderly against hers. It was unlike any of the kisses they had shared that day… he poured all his emotions into it and she felt it, almost as if he was trying to use the kiss to reach into her soul and set fire to it. And he was successful. Usagi felt fireworks exploding within her, spreading warmth and chills throughout her whole body. The warmth of his love and passion that it made her feel weak. She was slipping even though she was sitting down. Feeling her slip, Seiya held her firmly as she clutched him tighter, their lips never wanting to disconnect.

* * *

"What happened?" She groaned and shook her head as she tried to up from the floor. Her legs were weak and she collapsed under her own weight.

"I don't know." A deep voice answered her. Although he tried his best to hide it, his companion knew him well enough to hear the uncertainty in his voice. "You should rest a bit more. We're safe here." Having woken up a few minutes before his friend, he had figured out where they were.

"Where are we?"

"The Time Gates." Although they knew that this place was probably the safest place in the universe (no access to anyone unless permitted), both of them could not shake off the uneasiness of being at the Time Gates. Why were they even here? One minute they were sitting on the steps of the Hikawa Shrine overlooking the city, the next they woke up here.

"How did we get here? Oh my gosh…" she screeched, thinking the worse, "are we here because… Sailor Moon was…d-defeated." Just thinking about it made her heart feel heavy.

"Don't jump to conclusions yet. If Sailor Moon was defeated, the world would've been destroyed and we wouldn't even be alive." He knew his words reassured her when he saw her relax a little. Refocusing, he continued, "But we need to get out of here and find the girls. I don't think Sailor Pluto is here."

"That is a problem." Calming down, she started to assess the situation to find a solution. Luckily the both of them were well-versed with how the Time Gates worked that they immediately knew how to return to Earth. Had Pluto been there, they would have already been out of there. But given the circumstances, the two of them had to work without her – it would take a lot of time, but they would be able to manage it. "Come on then Artemis. Let's get started."

****Please review****


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi! Thanks for the reviews! Makes me so happy to hear your inputs :)  
Guest 1 - I also tagged Usagi and Yaten, altho I have no idea or any memory of tagging Yaten. Ami will appear... this chapter! lol you'll see why I tagged her as the story goes on :) and as for Kenji... when Seiya goes to visit as a kid, i guess it was implied that it was during the day so Kenji would be at work.  
**

**Hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!**

The weeks rolled by and Seiya and Usagi could not be happier together. Well… Usagi would be happier if Seiya wasn't so popular. Being the three hottest boys in school, Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki would always be surrounded by girls. Everyday there would be girls giving them gifts, love letters, or even their phone numbers. However, all three responded differently. Aside from one fairly thick book on quantum physics that he had received, Taiki had ignored all the girls and other gifts. Yaten was becoming increasingly irritated by all the attention. Although he wasn't about to complain about all the free snacks he had gotten anonymously, he would snap at girls who tried to approach him – all who had tried always left crying. Seiya, on the other hand, loved the attention. Although he would've preferred Usagi's affection, he found it funny as he watched random girls throw themselves at him then swoon when he flirted back. Occasionally, he would spot his girlfriend from afar and wink at her, as if silently boasting his popularity to her. He would smirk when he saw her roll her eyes. But unfortunately, Usagi didn't find it as amusing as he did. When they started dating, they decided to keep it a secret so that Kakyuu wouldn't find out. As bad as he felt about lying to her sister, Seiya couldn't help but feel happy with Usagi by his side. But despite the secrecy, it was also part of his personality/ego that made him flirt with other girls. Seiya would never allow any kind of physical contact with them and Usagi knew that he was never serious with any of the flirting, but still… she couldn't help feeling jealous.

After enduring it for a month, Usagi couldn't take it anymore and decided to confront him. "Seiya…" she wasn't sure how to begin.

He peeled his eyes from the stars as the two sat on her roof late at night, like they did every night. "Yes Odango?" Sensing her hesitancy, he squeezed their interlocking hands a little as encouragement for her to continue.

She sighed, "Seiya, it's really bothering me that you can so casually flirt with other girls."

"I never knew you were the jealous type." He loved to tease her, but his expression quickly changed to a more gentle one, "I'm sorry, Odango. It's just my personality. I'll try to limit it from now on but don't worry." He smiled warmly at her and raised his hands to cup her cheeks. "No matter what, you're the only one that I'm serious about."

Could she ask for anything more? "Thank you Seiya." Usagi removed his hand from her cheeks so she could lean on his shoulders. She closed her eyes and sighed with content. Seeing her relaxed expression, Seiya smiled and slithered his arms around her waist to pull her closer. And so, the two sat on the roof for a while longer watching the stars, just being with each other and never needing to exchange many words.

* * *

"AHHHH!" Usagi and Naru were pushed violently away from the boards. Exam results were up and all the students were eager to see their marks. Naru had gracefully regained her balance, but Usagi tripped on her own feet when she was pushed and was about to fall when… she fell on something soft.

"OW!" Her head popped up when the person underneath her started to stir, "What's your problem, you fat…" Usagi looked at who she fell on top of and when she did, she couldn't even begin her apology. "Mina…"

Although he had whispered it so quietly, Usagi heard it since she was close to him and it jolted her back to her senses, "I'm so sorry… Yaten-kun."

For a brief moment, Yaten had mistaken Usagi because of her large blue eyes. But upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a darker shade of blue and her hair style resembled another girl he had met a long time ago. "Usagi-san." The loving warmth in his emerald eyes disappeared when he recognized Usagi and turned to one of gentleness… and sadness. "Can you-"

"OI!" A tall guy came running down the hallway, his long black ponytail swinging wildly behind him. "Yaten! What are you doing?"

Usagi jumped up immediately. "Sorry Yaten-kun." Her face was beet red. She held out her hand to help Yaten get up from the floor.

"Thanks." He pulled himself up and brushed his pants. Yaten turned to face Seiya and saw his scowling face, "What's up your ass?"

Usagi interrupted quickly to explain what had happened to Seiya, "Ah… I just fell and accidentally landed on him." Usagi laughed sheepishly.

Seiya frowned at Yaten for a second then quickly sighed. "As long as you're ok Odango." Yaten raised an eyebrow upon hearing his friend's casual tone. Seiya caught his expression and quickly changed subjects, "So how'd you guys do?" And he quickly headed towards the score boards to check his results. But it didn't work… instead of ignoring the matter, Yaten's suspicions grew and he planned to question Seiya later.

Taiki walked all the way to the front of the board, already expecting to receive top scores like he always did. No one had even come close to tying with him when it came to academics. When he looked up to confirm his thinking, he was shocked. Because right next to his name, there was another student who had also received a large #1 above their name – Mizuno Ami.

_"What is this I'm feeling?"_ Upon reading the name, Taiki could have sworn he felt vaguely affectionate to whoever it was but it was instantly replaced by a sense of competition. His natural instinct kicked in – he needed to remain the smartest and this person was challenging his place as top in his grade. Smirking, he thought to himself, _"Perhaps a little competition would be fun." _He headed back to the classroom to wait for his friends for lunch.

Usagi breathed out a breath of relief, "Naru-chan I didn't fail this time."

"Usagi-chan, you should still try to do better next time." Naru looked at her friend in concern. Usagi's name was the last name on the board with a black number above it – names with a red number above it means that they failed.

"If only I can. Come on, let's go see who got first." Usagi dragged Naru all the way down the hall. "Eh… Taiki Kou and Mizuno Ami." She was in awe… "I wish I can be that smart too."

Naru spoke in a hushed voiced, "Smart people are so full of themselves. You don't want to be like them Usagi-chan. Taiki Kou and Mizuno Ami are so conceited that they think everyone is below them. That's why they don't have any friends."

"Taiki-san has Seiya and Yaten-kun." Usagi looked confused at her friend's words. "I've seen Mizuno-san around and I want to meet her! I'm sure she's super nice and we'll be great friends!" Her eyes shone brightly as she thought about the genius girl.

"Tsukino-san correct?" Both of them were so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn't notice the girl behind them. She had overheard the conversation between the two girls. Both swished around to see to a blue-haired girl with a serious expression addressing them. "Mizuno Ami." She responded when they looked confused.

Usagi's face lit up, clearly excited, "Tsukino Usagi! Nice to meet you. You can call me Usagi." Although it was their first time meeting, it only seemed natural for this girl to call her by her first name.

A small smile graced Ami's delicate face, "Pleasure is all mine. Excuse me, but have we met before?" Ami had never been comfortable around people, especially since everyone had the same opinion of her… just like the one she had heard from Naru. But Usagi was different… somehow Ami felt comfortable around Usagi, which why she initially approached her.

"Hm?" Usagi stared at her with round eyes, evidently lost.

"Sorry…" Ami whispered quietly and her cheeks flushed a light tint of pink. She started to walk away when suddenly…

"Ami-chan," Usagi had lightly grabbed Ami's arm, "You want to come with us to the arcade?" Something struck her, "Oh can I call you Ami-chan?" She saw that her new friend was about to reject her offer and she interrupted quickly… somehow, she knew this girl was about to say she needed to study. "There won't be another exam for a while so let's go enjoy ourselves!"

"That sounds like fun." Ami was thrilled about meeting Usagi and what she said was correct – she could afford to relax a little. "I'll see you after school then, Usagi…chan…?" She tested out her name.

"Great! Oh by the way, this is Naru-chan! We'll meet you at the gates after school then!" Usagi beamed and Naru just smiled sheepishly. Naru was embarrassed since she knew Ami had overheard her comment. The two girls headed back to their classroom as Ami went to the library to study, like she did every lunch.

And so, the day went by and as promised, Usagi and Naru went to the arcade with Ami. Not surprisingly, Ami excelled in video games. By the end of the day, all the girls were good friends.

* * *

"Seiya." The boys were gathered at Seiya's house after school. Despite thinking about it for the whole after, Yaten was still wondering whether or not he should ask Seiya about his relationship with Usagi. But when Seiya didn't respond, Yaten saw his friend smirk as Seiya continued to do whatever he was doing. Yaten knew Seiya was only trying to provoke him, but Yaten decided to be patient this time.

When Yaten didn't get angry about his unresponsiveness, Seiya sensed the seriousness. "What's up Yaten?"

Silently congratulating himself for getting a response from Seiya, Yaten was never one to beat around the bush so he asked directly, "How are you and Usagi-san?"

The sudden question rendered Seiya speechless. It also caused Taiki to look up from his book about déjà vu and looked at Seiya, waiting for his response.

"N-Nothing." Seiya blushed. He had been considering telling his best friends his secret relationship for a while now. But he was nevertheless taken by surprise by the sudden question. Both Yaten and Taiki raised their eyebrows skeptically. They could easily recognize each others mannerisms and right now, they knew Seiya was lying. Seiya sighed, knowing that there was no point in lying anymore, "Please don't tell Kakyuu." He sighed again, "Usagi and I have been dating for over a month now."

Seiya waited for them to explode, telling him that he wasn't suppose to talk to her or something about betraying Kakyuu. But none of that happened. In fact… nothing happened. Taiki and Yaten just stared wide-eyed. They could not believe that the two of them actually got together. It was one thing for Seiya to leave her flowers but quite another for them to be dating. Neither of them knew whether to be happy for their friends or feel guilty about betraying Kakyuu. Guilty… since they were the ones responsible for indulging Seiya's infatuation with Usagi and 'encouraged' him to visit her by teaching him how to jump across rooftops.

Taiki cleared his throat and spoke first, "Seiya," Seiya immediately recognized it as his 'lecture' voice, "that is a bad idea." Seeing Seiya's face fall, he continued, "I'm glad you're happy, but I'm concerned about how Kakyuu would take it. And you can't hide it from her forever."

"I know…" Seiya sighed. After dating Usagi for a week, it finally hit Seiya that he had to tell Kakyuu some time. He had given it a lot of thought as to how he should tell her, but nothing good came to mind. No matter how he saw it, he didn't listen to his sister. "I just… can't stay away from her. I love her so much."

Yaten and Taiki were surprised at his friend's confession. Never had they seen him speak with such sincerity, and definitely never had they heard him say he loved someone.

Uncomfortable at the silent glares from his friends, Seiya spoke up again, "So uh… any ideas on how I should tell Kakyuu?"

"There's no way you're going to leave Usagi is there?" Yaten wanted Seiya to be sure about his decision.

"There's no way I'm going to leave her now that I have her."

Yaten noted the absolute resolve in his voice. "Ok then." He wasn't completely comfortable with Seiya's decision to be with Usagi, but he would do anything to help his friend. "What if Kakyuu is alright with you being with Usagi now?"

"Doubtful." Taiki answered for Seiya, "She would have told Seiya or something and he wouldn't need to sneak around."

"I never understood why she doesn't want you to see her." Yaten shifted on the couch to a more comfortable position – this was going to be a long conversation, he might as well get comfortable.

"Remember when Seiya told us that Kakyuu fainted when she touched Usagi, she's just concerned for Seiya." Before the other two could speak again, Taiki decided to tell them about his research, "For years now, I've been researching what happened between them, why it happened, and how to prevent it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" "What!?" Yaten and Seiya both asked at the same time.

"Are you guys going to ask me questions or do you want to hear what I've found?" It effectively shut both of his friends up. "From everything I've learned, we feel pain when we see certain images. For example when Seiya went into Usagi's room for the first time, when Yaten saw Seiya bloody in his arms, and Kakyuu and Usagi seemed to have seen something too that day in the park. I am not an exception. I saw something when I was researching on how to teach you to jump rooftops. I don't remember what it was anymore. But the reason why I didn't feel the same intense pain was because I didn't focus on it – I didn't think too much about it like the two of you did."

"So what are these images we've been seeing?" Yaten asked casually.

"The biggest clue I got was from you Yaten." Taiki hesitated wondering how they were going to take it since he knew what he was about to say was going to sound ridiculous, "You told me that the Seiya you saw was older." Yaten frowned trying to remember what he saw. But it was in vain… he was thankful that Taiki had caught everything before he forgot it all. "At first, I wondered if Yaten could see the future, like a psychic. But it would be unlikely since that would mean that all of us would be psychics."

"Maybe we are!" Seiya joked. The atmosphere in the room was so tense that it was making him ridiculously uncomfortable. He had a feeling that he didn't like where this was going…

Taiki ignored him and continued, "I think…" He took a deep breath. It was the only explanation he could come up with. To an extent, it made sense to him even though it was the most unscientific explanation ever, "I think we all knew each other before."

"Before…?" Yaten and Seiya were both equally confused.

"Yes," Taiki nodded sharply with a serious expression, daring either one of them to laugh, "as in… our past life." To his relief, none of them laughed. Both Yaten and Seiya held the same humourless expression.

"Wait…" Yaten was extremely confused, "how is that possible? I didn't think you believed in a reincarnation or whatever."

"As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said: Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matther how improbable, must be the truth. And believe me when I say I've researched many theories before I even considered this one." Taiki placed his hand on his forehead thinking about the countless hours he spent in the library.

After processing the information for a while, Seiya spoke up, "So you're saying that we're seeing bits of our past life…"

"And whenever we do, we feel pain…?" Yaten interrupted.

"I'm not sure why… perhaps something is trying to prevent us from remembering our past." Taiki had thought about it for a long time and he had only a few theories as to why they felt pain. But for some reason, this explanation was always on the forefront of his mind. It was like his mind knew the answer but he couldn't quite grasp it. He knew that if he tried focusing on it, the pain would start developing, as it always did when he secretly tried before. So he cleared his throat and continued talking to his friends, "I think Usagi-san was a part of our past too."

"Odango?"

"Yes. Given your strange, unexplainable infatuation with her," Seiya started scowling, saying how it wasn't strange. Taiki smirked, merely ignoring him, "when I first met her, I thought she seemed familiar. And especially when Kakyuu met her that day."

Yaten and Seiya swallowed the lump in their throat… they didn't know what to say anymore.

"From what I've heard from Seiya, I can only conclude that Kakyuu is the Fireball Princess and Usagi is Sailor Moon. And the both of them were against each other, which is why Kakyuu forbid you to see her. Like Romeo and Juliet, unfortunately Seiya is Romeo." Taiki smirked at his last comment as he saw Seiya roll his large blue eyes.

"Wait… how did you get that?" Yaten was trying to catch up.

"That's what they called each other. But since I couldn't ask them what they saw that day, I can only guess."

"Wait…" Seiya realized something, "does that mean I died in Yaten's arms?" His mind went blank…_"How am I suppose to feel about me… dying…?"_

Sensing his friend's distress, Taiki answered, "We can't say that for sure. Maybe you were just hurt." He gave him a kind smile and reached over to clap him on the shoulder, "Don't stress about it just yet. We can't draw any conclusions just yet."

"Oh!" It was Yaten's turn to realize something, "maybe that crazy blonde with the red bow…"

"Aino Minako. You can call her by her name you know. We won't make fun of you." Taiki and Seiya roared with laughter as they tried to avoid the objects thrown at them.

The silver-haired boy was beet red and fuming, "AS I WAS SAYING! Maybe that girl was part of our past too."

"Maybe you just like her." Seiya had one last chuckle before Yaten decked him hard with a desk clock. He jumped on Yaten and the two of them started fighting. "YOU F-"

"ENOUGH!" Taiki held both of them apart. When he had successfully separated them,"Let's focus okay?" Seiya and Yaten huffed and plopped back down in their seats.

"So," Yaten was sporting a bruised arm. He calmed down a bit but was still clearly irritated, "what should we do now?"

Taiki resumed his serious expression. "We could either investigate further or forget about everything." Personally, he hoped that he could keep researching with the help of his friends. But he would completely understand if his friends chose not to and would respect their wishes.

"I'm in." Even though he didn't remember what he saw, Yaten remembered the pain he felt and wanted to find a way to prevent it from happening again to him or his friends. Not to mention, he was wicked curious ever since Taiki brought up the whole past lives theory.

Seiya agreed too. He too, like Yaten, was awfully curious about the whole thing. But most importantly, he needed to know what happened between Kakyuu and Usagi so that he could sort things out and date Usagi without any reservations.

And so, the three of them started down a road that they weren't sure if they would regret or be glad they explored. But ultimately, it would be a difficult path… for all of them.

****Please review****


	10. Chapter 9

**I'm sorry guys for posting so late. It's really been a rough month for me and I'm really not being dramatic when I say that (to say it delicately) there was a big possibility that this story would been incomplete forever. But I really want to thank you for your reviews and your continued support. I promise I'll do better and push out more chapters. **

**Please enjoy.**

"We've almost got it Luna." The two cats have been working tirelessly to work a little of their lunarian magic in order to return to Earth. Days had passed by, perhaps even weeks. But neither of them were sure… it was difficult to tell time at the Time Gates.

"I hope everyone is alright." Despite trying to remain positive, Luna could not help but worry, especially about Usagi. They were more than just guardian and princess… they were family. Usagi would give her life to protect Luna even though she was the princess and they would always support each other whenever they needed. She hoped to hell that Usagi didn't send her and Artemis to the Time Gates to protect them when everything was being destroyed. But no matter what might've happened, Luna kept telling herself that there was no point in thinking about such things and all she needed to do right now is focus on returning to Earth. She did however, have a sneaking suspicion that Artemis was feeling the same thing about Mina and like her, chose to work instead of voicing his concerns.

They continued to work until finally… "We did it Artemis!" In a flash, they appeared in the familiar surroundings of Juuban Park.

"Great!" They quickly ducked behind some bushes to carry out their conversation, "Everything looks alright…" Both of them took the time to observe their surroundings. Artemis was right… everything looked the same.

Luna sighed in relief, "Well at least we know Galaxia didn't take over the universe." She frowned in concentration, wondering why they ended up at the Time Gates if Earth was saved. "Anyways, we should find the girls as soon as possible. Artemis, you're going to find Mina right?" The white cat nodded sharply, "Alright, I'm going to Usagi's house. We'll round them up and met at the Hikawa Shrine in say an hour."

"Sounds like a plan. See you then Luna." Artemis quickly turned around and headed towards Mina's house.

Luna ran down the street in the opposite direction, hurrying to see her own blonde master. There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask… but she didn't even know what time she was in or even if Usagi was alive. _"I hope you're okay Usagi… you better be okay."_ So wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't notice a grubby pair of hands reach out and grab her.

"Hey guys! Lookee what I haves here!" A boy with a straw hat was waving her around to show his friends, who came running up to the boy. "I caught a kitty."

"What's that on her head?"

"It looks weird…"

The boys proceeded to plaster a bandaid on Luna's crescent moon since they found it odd.

"_SHIT! How am I going to get out of this?"_ Panicking, Luna started scratching and trying to claw at the boys to free herself when suddenly… _"Hang on… this seems familiar…"_ And right on cue, Usagi turned the corner.

"Hey what are you boys doing to that cat!?" As Usagi charged at the boys, they dropped Luna and ran away. Usagi delicately picked Luna up and peeled off the bandaid on her forehead. "Are you okay kitty? What a cool mark you have on your forehead." She smiled and gently combed through Luna's fur.

"_What is going on? Doesn't she remember me? Oh my gosh…"_ Once glance at Usagi's younger appearance, Luna suddenly realized that they had gone back in time. _"Did we screw up somewhere when we came back? Shit... what should I do now? I need to talk to Artemis…" _ She needed to get discuss it with Artemis immediately. If they did return to the past, it should be playing out as it did before. But right now, unlike the actual first time they met, Luna didn't have a mission to find the lost Moon Princess and she certainly did not have Sailor Moon's old brooch. _"What should I do…?"_ Just as she was about to run off to find Artemis…

"Oi Odango!" Luna's head peaked over Usagi's shoulders to see someone she never expected in this time period… Seiya Kou. Luna's red eyes widen in surprise. "Why didn't you wait for me so I could walk you home?" Seiya pouted.

The blonde's eyebrows rose teasingly. "Why do I need you to walk me home?"

"So I can protect you from bad guys. Who knows what they might do to cute helpless Odangoes?" He chuckled as Usagi looked offended at being called helpless.

"For your information Seiya Kou, I rescued this kitty," she swung Luna violently and shoved her in Seiya's face, "I can take care of myself." She stuck out her tongue.

Despite being waved in front of Seiya's face, Luna was glad to hear that Usagi still had the same temperament and carefree personality. As for the situation right now, Luna could tell that Usagi and Seiya still had the same close friendship from the way they spoke to each other. Luna always suspected that Usagi may have fallen for Seiya if it were not for her destiny and Serenity's undying love for Endymion. She wasn't sure how she would react if she discovered that the Moon Princess and Earth Prince did not end up together – conflicted by her duty as a guardian and her friendship with Usagi. But she didn't have to wait long until she needed to figure it out…

Seiya smirked, "Well done defending her against a bunch of kindergarten kids." His voice was dripping with sarcasm and Usagi looked embarrassed, not realizing that he knew. He stepped forward towards her and leaned in to whisper into her ears. His hot breath sent a wave of electricity down her spine, "May I have the pleasure of your company then, my beautiful and brave Odango?" As he slowly pulled back, he turned his head and planted a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth so as to tempt her. Her lips curled up into a smile, knowing his tricks – it worked well... Usagi couldn't wait until he gave her a long passionate kiss. Seiya winked and slid his arms around her waist as Usagi cradled Luna. He tugged on her waist gently to lead her home. The two of them walked side-by-side with an astonished Luna, still not believing what had just transpired.

"Are you going to keep that cat?" Seiya looked down at Luna and tried to stroke her head with one of his fingers. Luna wasn't sure whether or not to swat his finger away or let him continue. She did enjoy the gentle strokes but also felt like she was betraying the Prince.

"I think so." Usagi also looked down at Luna. She was excited to have a pet but there was something else… Usagi felt an instant connection with this cat. Luna purred at her affectionately to reassure her.

"What are you going to name her?"

"Hm… I haven't decided yet." The crescent moon on Luna's forehead caught her eye. _"Perhaps I should name her something that has to do with the moon."_ Usagi didn't know why she thought that, but nevertheless felt that it would fit her quite well.

"She's quite a beautiful cat." Seiya leaned in to take a closer at her forehead. "That's interesting." He stopped walking and narrowed his eyes to focus on the crescent moon. "It looks just lik-"suddenly, he dropped to his knees and grabbed his head, groaning.

"Seiya!" Usagi let Luna down, fell to her knees, and tried to wretch his hands away from his head. She cupped his face with both her hands and made him look at her. "Seiya!"

It jolted him back to reality. Her cool hands and voice calmed him. As he looked into her eyes, his body relaxed… the pain was fading. _"I have to tell Taiki about this"_ he made a mental note and hoped that he could remember everything by then.

"Sorry for worrying you Odango. I'm fine now." He gave her a weak smile. "Thank you." He pulled her in for a hug; he was scared but the mere presence of his Odango calmed him.

"Anytime Seiya." She was still worried but similar to Seiya, she knew that if he was with her, everything would be fine.

Luna, who was standing on the floor looking at the two couple embrace, saw the deep connection between them. There was no doubt in her mind that Usagi was in love with Seiya, and vice versa. _"This is going to end in a disaster…"_ But despite problems with the Silver Millennium destiny, she did not miss the sudden headache Seiya had gotten when he seemed to have recognized her crescent moon. Luna was glad she didn't immediately run off to see Artemis, otherwise she would have missed Seiya's little episode. Her mind worked quickly to process everything that had happened up until that moment… _"He met up with Usagi and they were heading home. Then… it was almost as if… he recognized..."_ She gasped, fortunately neither Seiya nor Usagi noticed. Luna had realized that Seiya was starting to remember the crescent moon on her forehead. If life was somehow 'restarted', whatever did it didn't wipe their memories completely. There was a glimmer of hope… the memories of their past live was buried deep inside them. And if they still existed, they can remember it again. She and Artemis were going to have to find a way to help everyone restore their memories… without the pain.

When they reached the street in front of their homes, Seiya and Usagi parted was after a brief goodbye kiss and their regular promise to meet later at night. And just like always, Usagi would happily skip up to her room and sing to herself, replaying the few minutes she got with Seiya during the day. But today, her little routine included Luna, much to the cat's dismay. Usagi held firmly on to Luna's body and twirled her around in the room. She kept twirling… and twirling… and twirling… until Luna was completely dizzy. She was on the verge of opening her mouth in order to tell Usagi to stop.

"Ne~" Usagi sat Luna down on her bed as she leaned on the edge of the bed, talking dreamily, "Seiya is so amazing. I'd never tell him that though. His ego is big enough." She giggled softly and consciously stroked Luna's soft fur. Her eyes twinkled as she continued, "I never imagined I'd be with someone like him. He's so kind, cool, funny, and just… amazing. I can't believe he would love someone like me. I mean he can pick any other girl but he chose me…" She sighed, "I feel like I don't deserve him but ever since we met, he accepted me and I felt… I felt alive…" Sighing again, Usagi closed her eyes to reminisce, "I'm so scared of losing him. All those years without him were awful but I knew he was still watching over me." Her mind drifted back to all the flowers he gave her. Throughout the years, Usagi had secretly dried one petal from each flower he gave her and kept it all in a jar. Whenever she was upset or lonely, the jar of petals reminded her that she was loved and never alone. "He still gives me flowers you know? Seiya really is a great guy and I love him so much." She opened her eyes and gave Luna the brightest smile, one that the cat had only seen when Usagi use to talk to Mamoru, "But you don't understand what I'm saying, do you kitty-chan? It'll be our little secret. Seiya doesn't need a bigger head." She giggled, got up and headed downstairs to get some food.

"Usagi-chan…" Luna whispering voice was heavy with sadness. Had it simply been a case of forgotten memories, Luna could easily fix it. But Usagi had fallen madly in love with Seiya. She didn't want to destroy the happiness she saw in her friend's eyes. If she was to restore the original timeline, Usagi would be forced to live out Princess Serenity's live… one that most definitely did not include Seiya or Sailor Star Fighter. _"Oh Usagi-chan… what should I do?"_

* * *

When night came, Usagi crept up on to her roof at 9 o'clock like she did every night to meet Seiya. Luna had already figured that Usagi would be meeting Seiya and did not follow her to the roof. She was pacing in the room, thinking about what she should do.

_Knock knock_.

The knockings were barely audible that Luna thought she imagined it. But when she heard it again, louder this time, Luna walked cautiously to the noise. It was coming from the balcony. She knew Usagi wouldn't knock so she was wary. Slowly sneaking to the balcony, Luna finally saw a glint of white reflected by the moonlight. _"Artemis"_ Being so caught up with everything, she had completely forgotten to meet up with him. She hurried over to the balcony doors and was thankful that Usagi had left it open, so she pawed it open quietly to let Artemis slip in.

"What happened?" Artemis had been freaking out – first he couldn't find Mina and then he thought that something had happened to her when Luna didn't show. He had to wait until he knew Luna was alone before seeing her.

"Sorry Artemis. When I bumped into Usagi, I completely forgot." She smiled at him sheepishly but her face quickly grew serious. "We have a big problem."

Artemis simply frowned and Luna understood it as a sign for her to continue.

"When I met Usagi, I realized that it was similar as when we met last time. So if I'm correct, it means that Usagi and the rest of the girls lost their memories of being sailor scouts." Luna realized that Usagi was the same age as when they first met, but unlike the last time, Usagi rescued her in the afternoon not in the morning. The biggest difference of course was Seiya's appearance. _'How do I even tell him…?'_

Artemis quickly jumped in before Luna could continue, "They could live as normal girls now. But even if any enemies appeared, we've helped them regain their memories before…" He didn't understand why Luna would consider this a 'big problem'.

Luna sighed… she might as well just tell him upfront, "Usagi is dating Seiya."

"The Starlights… are here?" He was clearly confused about the change in their history, but then it finally hit him, "So Usagi-san and Mamoru-san…"

"I'm not sure if they've even met yet… or any of the girls for that matter."

"But Usagi-san has always loved Mamoru-san. Perhaps if Usagi-san met Mamoru-san again, they'll fall in love again and Crystal Tokyo will still be created."

"Seiya and Usagi-chan are on the roof right now." Artemis had noticed people on the roof when he came to see Luna, but it was too dark for him to see who was there. "Usagi-chan loves him so much. I saw it this afternoon."

"This is a problem…" He sighed, "Maybe if Usagi and Mamoru met again they'll remember each other and everything can be restored…" Artemis repeated but there was no mistaking the doubt in his voice. Artemis could only hope, but with the way things are… they couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

Luna doubted Artemis's statement, "I hope so but now, I don't know if Usagi-chan can leave Seiya. If it were simply a matter of forgotten memories, we can restore it and Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san will be together. But Usagi-chan will always love Seiya now… if even a little. It will never be the same."

"Luna…" Artemis understood where she was going with this and he was sympathetic. He placed a paw on her shoulders and smiled kindly, "you don't want to restore their memories do you?"

Luna's eyes were swimming with tears, "Oh Artemis," he knew her so well; "I don't want to force her to become someone she's not. I saw it the first time: Usagi-chan loved Seiya but she refused to acknowledge it for everyone and for the sake of the future. But now she has the chance. Should we really take that away from her?"

Mentioning the future, Artemis reminded her of something that Luna had forgotten to consider. He hesitated slightly in order to phrase it delicately, "Chibi-Usa…" was all he muttered out when he couldn't think of any other way.

"Shit…" She hadn't considered the future heir to the Silver Millennium. Can they really give up the cute pink-haired girl? She sighed… it was not going to be an easy choice, "I guess we can't really avoid destiny can we?"

Artemis's lips twitched to form a bitter smile, "It's not for a lack for trying though."

"You're probably right," she too had smiled bitterly at their unfortunate predicament. "There is something else to consider though." Both Luna and Artemis turned serious once again as she recounted Seiya's reaction upon recognizing the crescent moon.

"But that's never happened to any of the girls before." Was this something that would happen to them if they tried to restore their memories this time? Was it a one-time occurrence? Or was this something that only happened to the Starlights because they were aliens?

Luna saw all the unanswerable questions in his head, "I know what you're thinking Artemis. I don't know either. We need help Artemis and maybe… we should restore the memories of one of the girls… carefully?" She wasn't sure about her request since she didn't know what would happen. But like she said, they needed help.

Artemis nodded sharply. "Leave that to me."

"Eh?" Luna was expecting to do it herself, "you're not going to London to find Mina?" She thought she knew Artemis pretty well but sometimes he was still capable of surprising her.

"You need to be here to watch over Usagi-chan and…" his face darkened as he turned away to look out the window, "even if I could somehow get to London, Mina… if Yaten is here…"

He didn't need to say any more. It was too late regarding Usagi and Seiya's situation, but Luna knew Artemis only wanted to keep Mina away from Yaten as long as possible to avoid the same problem. Artemis knew Mina's love for Yaten and if their memories are restored, the Starlights will leave and the girls will be heart-broken. "It's ok Artemis. I'll let you handle it then." Luna gave him a reassuring smile.

"Thank you Luna." He returned the smile and headed towards the balcony door. "I'll come by again to give you any updates."

She padded over to the door to close it after him and watched as a white figure streaked towards the apartment of their genius friend. "Good luck Artemis and… Ami-chan."

**Please review! **


	11. Chapter 10

**Hi! Thanks for your continued support! I love your reviews - even if I don't respond, I just want you to know I really, really appreciate it!  
Guest: Yes sometimes fate is cruel. What you want never seems to be what you get. People keep telling me, if it's meant to be, it'll work out but that's just a load of crap... sometimes it just doesn't work out, even if you fight for it and then you're just left to pick up the pieces of your shattered dreams. I digress... but (hopefully!) everyone will win in this story. **

**Mara Kou: Hehe thanks for the encouragement! I love Seiya so I'll do my best to make it end up that way with a happy ending for everyone! **

**OK without further adieu... ENJOY!**

"Mizuno-kun right?"

Taiki arrived at the library early in the morning, as he did every morning. And every morning, he would see the blue-haired student busy reading her textbooks and various other books; too engrossed in her studies to notice anything around her. He never gave her a second glance… until today. After realizing she was the student who tied with him on the exam, he wanted to assess his opponent.

Ami looked upwards into his brilliant violet eyes. "Yes. You are Taiki-san correct?" The moment she locked eyes with him, she was captivated by the beauty of the pools of violet that were staring intensely at her. But behind the beauty, Ami felt as if she could see right into his soul and from that, she knew that Taiki was a much more complicated person that she had anticipated… there were many more secrets and knowledge behind the façade the tall brunette showed to people at school. And the mystery was absolutely mesmerizing to her.

"Pleased to meet you." Ami stared briefly at his hand that was inviting her to take it. So she did. She reached up and placed her petite hands into his and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you too… Taiki…san." Both of them stared at their connected hands, perplexed by the emotions that were surfacing within them.

Ami couldn't quite identify what she was feeling. All she knew was that she respected him and somehow… felt safe.

Unfortunately, Taiki's feelings were much more pronounced than Ami's. He froze in his spot, still holding on to Ami's hands as all the emotions he felt took over him completely. The moment their hands touched, Taiki felt a glimmer of hope. It was so faint but he was positive he felt it not before he was consumed by despair and darkness. _'Why am I feeling this?'_ Remembering all his research and his friend's experiences, he tried desperately to focus on any images that would follow. But what he saw bothered him to no end – the girl in front of him was suddenly encased by a flash of golden light, then she fell to the floor. Taiki saw her lips move, her breath was quickening… she was dying as she started to fade away. Even though he couldn't make out what she was saying, he saw the love and hope that were in her eyes and it was all aimed at him. He felt loved but right now, as he watched her fade into darkness, it all disappeared. _'Did… I… watch her… die?' _ If he had the chance to feel what came next, he would feel the need to be strong and the hope he had for this girl's Princess. But he didn't… or he couldn't.

Before he could see what happened next, a strong wave of pain hit him. It was like a bolt of lightning was traveling up his spine leaving a searing pain all the way to his brain where it struck and was on the verge of explosion. It was most severe headache he had ever felt in his entire life and it brought him to his knees. His hands unconsciously went to his head and gripped it tight, hoping that he could physically push back in the memories in order to prevent his head from exploding.

"Taiki-san?" Ami became extremely concerned when Taiki dropped to his knees. She kneeled to his level in order to have a better look at him. _'This is no time to panic.'_ She told herself and thought of anything to help. _'What can I do? What should I do?_' Although she wasn't sure if it would help, Ami's hand moved on instinct – she slapped him. Hard.

"Mi…zuno… kun?" With one last groan, he shook his head and released the grip on his head. "Thank you."

"What happened?" She helped him up into a chair around her table and just as she was about to let him go and sit back down in her own chair, Taiki quickly snatched her hands held on to her tightly.

"Don't go." His voice was weak but the pain, the fear, and plea in his voice was unmistakeable.

"I'm not going anywhere." She had no idea what was happening but nevertheless gave him a warm smile. But his hold on her did not loosen, so she sat down right beside him and repeated herself, "What happened?"

"How did you wake me?" He wasn't sure whether or not he should tell Ami that he just saw her die so he ignored her question.

"Oh," Slightly taken aback by his abruptness and seeming lack of concern for his own well being, she still decided just to answer him, "you seemed to be in a sort of trance and I've read that the best way to retrieve someone from the depths of their memories was external stimuli. Sorry for slapping you Taiki-san. It was the only thing I could think of." She blushed, embarrassed that she slapped someone she had just met… who also happened to be one of the most popular and most handsome boys in school.

"Did you have to slap me so hard?" He pouted cutely, rubbed the side of his cheek and smirked.

"Sorry, you were in pretty deep. But…" She giggled, knowing that he was only teasing her, "you're rubbing the wrong cheek." She was amused that someone so popular and good-looking would be joking with her.

"Ah…" he laughed sheepishly as his cheeks turned pink.

"So, what happened?" Ami repeated curiously. She was never one to pry into someone's personal life, but she was truly concerned by the agonizing pain she saw when Taiki fell down. Despite the fact that a sudden medical phenomenon always fascinated her, she wanted to find a solution to it so that he'll never experience it again. Feeling uncharacteristically brave in front of a good-looking guy, Ami joked, "You know what they say, two heads are better than one." The moment the words slipped from her lips, she was afraid that Taiki would get angry at her for being nosy, or thinking that he was incompetent, or anything.

But his response surprised them both, "That would be nice. Thank you. I think I'd really enjoy your company as well." Ami became speechless, blushing furiously. He chuckled softly at her flushed face, which only caused her cheeks to turn redder than what she thought possible. Her shy blushing face caused his heart to skip a beat for the first time in his life. There was something about this girl that made him curious – not curious in the sense that he needed to know the world around him to satisfy his scientific curiosity, but in a way that made him feel like he missed an important aspect in his life. And he felt as if this girl was the one who would teach him what it is that he was missing.

He continued to observe her as she was getting increasingly flustered by his stares. He knew the effect he was having on her and it amused him. But after a few more seconds, he decided to stop teasing her… at least for now. "Mizuno-kun, are you familiar with the concept of déjà vu?"

Realizing Taiki's change in attitude, she quickly composed herself and answered, "Yes, I'm familiar with it."

"Well… That's kind of how I feel when I'm around you even though I just met you." Taiki was slightly nervous thinking about how she was going to react. He didn't want to feel unscientific when speaking with one of the smartest students in the school. But it was the only thing he could tell her now… he had completely forgotten what he had seen earlier, only remembering the intense pain.

Ami frowned, "I… know how that feels." She stole a glance at Taiki and saw the surprise look on his face. She sighed, "I know this may sound illogical but somehow, I feel like I've met you before. Almost as if we'd been friends for… for a long time." She finished lamely.

But Taiki didn't notice; he was too busy thinking about what she said and how he should respond. It was almost as if she was reading his mind; speaking aloud the very words that was in his mind. After a long while, he tried to ask one of many questions that were swirling in his head, "So… why do you think that is?" was the first thing that came out.

"I'm not sure." She hated not having answers. But she didn't have enough information anyways, "So… what happened? You still haven't answered me yet." Ami gave him the most charming smile she could muster.

"Right." Taiki had completely forgotten she had asked three times. "You're quite persistent when you're curious aren't you?" He smirked at her causing her to turn bright red. "But honestly, I don't remember anymore. I remember the feeling of nostalgia, loss, and hope. Then… then…" Taiki closed his eyes, trying to concentrate and remember anything, but nothing came to mind. He thought it was partly because he was afraid of the pain returning so he subconsciously prevented himself from delving too deep into his memories. "Then the pain developed. It was intense, like my head was going to burst." He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"Any history of medical conditions?" Despite being in jr. high, Ami had been interested in biology and human anatomy so she had read quite a few books on genetics and diseases.

"No. I've considered environmental factors since Ya- I mean my friends had similar experiences." Taiki stopped himself from revealing too… he felt that it wasn't appropriate for him to share other people's secrets. And to some extent, Ami understood it. She didn't question who it was; she merely smiled, telling him to continue. "It's very rare but my friends and I have all experienced this. It starts off with a sense of familiarity, then an image, which grows into pain. But no one remembers what they've seen. I've only heard pieces of what they've seen just before they forget everything. I don't have any evidence of this since I only calculated it from one of my friends but there's only about 30 seconds when they regain consciousness from the pain. The memories fade away completely after that."

"They?" Ami was surprised that more than one person had experience this phenomenon. She had already deduced who it could be since Taiki only really hung out with two other people at school. "So what did they see?"

"I'm not at liberty to share my friend's life with others, so I'm going to refer to him as Inferno," Ami nodded in agreement, "when we were younger, Inferno was thinking about my other friends Laser, Moon, and Blossom." Hearing the fake names, Ami tilted her head and blinked blankly at Taiki, almost as if asking him to explain. He shrugged and continued, "I was reading when Inferno suddenly fell over and it appeared as if he was in a lot of pain. When he refocused, I asked him what he saw and he said that he saw Laser bloody in his arms. The most curious thing was that Inferno saw an older Laser and that it felt like a memory."

Ami lowered her head as she placed her hand on her chin, processing what she had just heard. "That is… curious."

Taiki was relieved to see that Ami was seriously thinking about it. Initially, he had doubts about sharing it with others in fear of them thinking him as… for a lack of a better word… crazy. "Any thoughts?"

"Hm…" She had already formed a theory but had a difficult time believing it. "From what I've heard and our sense of familiarity, I can only conclude that we've met before. Hear me out," Ami saw Taiki frown, thinking that he was about to interrupt her even though he really had no intention of doing so, "somehow it seems as if we've met before but something is repressing the memories. When the memories are resurfacing, pain develops as a way to prevent you from fully remembering it. This normally happens as a defensive mechanism as a method to suppress traumatic experiences."

"That doesn't really explain how Ya- I mean Inferno from seeing an older Laser." Taiki wanted to test Ami and see if she would come to the same conclusion as he had.

"You're right." She, like him, was use to testing out her opponent and immediately recognized the look on his face. "And I assume you have a theory. I hesitate to tell you what I think since I haven't done any research on it."

Taiki smirked, _'Good answer. But of course she's probably done this before.' _He too would not voice his thoughts until he had gathered enough information, which is exactly the reason why he had not told Yaten and Seiya until recently. "You're correct. I do have a theory but it's unscientific. I've done a lot of research and have yet to find a feasible explanation." He sighed heavily, "Reincarnation." Being in front of another genius, he felt embarrassed the moment the words left his lips. Telling Yaten and Seiya was different – he knew any kind of teasing from then would not be serious but was nevertheless glad they didn't.

"That's what I had in mind too." Her sapphire eyes looked squarely into his amethyst eyes – there was no mockery or glint of ridicule in her eyes… she was serious. His eyes were bulging in shock – he was pleasantly surprised. "Normally I wouldn't have thought of something as ridiculous as rebirth. But… I can't shake the feeling that it's the answer. I don't understand it…" Blushing, Ami looked away as she finished her sentence quietly.

"I'm glad I'm not going crazy." His shock turned into a kind smile as her head snapped back towards him. He chuckled softly, "Thank you Mizuno-kun."

Ami's blush grew redder under his loving stare, "Taiki-san, if you don't mind, may I help you in your quest to find the truth?"

"You really are the curious type." He continued to smile kindly at her, "But I'd appreciate your help." Ami responded with a beautiful smile of her own.

"So… tell me everything you've found." And so she spent the morning learning Taiki's years of research, promising to meet again tomorrow morning to start searching for a possible solution.

****Please review****


	12. Chapter 11

**Sorry about the long wait! :( but things are going to start heating up a little in this chapter!  
Enjoy!**

It was about two hours after school had ended when Ami finally decided to go home. She had stayed in the library studying to make up for time she spent with Taiki in the morning. She stretched her slender body as she walked out the front gates, feeling the warm rays of the setting sun against her pale skin. Ami was glad that she didn't have cram school today even though she would study all night anyways. She set off down her usual path to her apartment where no one would be waiting for her. But she didn't mind… she was use to it. Her parents were divorced and her mother would be working endlessly at the hospital. Even at a very young age, Ami never held it against them – they did what they had to do to be happy, even if it meant being separated. They never neglected her though; Ami's father would send her paintings or a short letter and Ami's mother would leaves notes for her if she was going to be working all night, always letting Ami know that she was sorry for not being home but also that she loved her. Just knowing her parents loved her and was thinking about her was enough for her. It was at times, like today that Ami couldn't help but wonder how her life would be when she started her own family. Usually she wouldn't associate anyone as her husband, only imaging a black male figure. But today, her mind unconsciously gave her imaginary husband a face. She saw a tall man with a muscular face, with vibrant purple eyes. His lips formed a smile as he came towards her, his eyes beginning to close...

Ami blushed furiously, _'Why am I thinking about Taiki-san?'_ Never in her wildest dreams would someone so popular, or anyone at all, appear in her mind. Desperately trying to clear her mind of Taiki, Ami didn't notice the pair of eyes that had been following her from behind the bushes. In a flash, it jumped out in front of her. Although alarmed, Ami didn't scream… she never screamed. Her fear quickly subsided when she realized what it was.

"Aw, what a beautiful cat." She bent down to pet it as it continued to stare at her, "Are you lost?" She had noticed a strange mark on the cat's forehead earlier but now, upon closer inspection, Ami realized it was shaped like a crescent moon. She brushed her fingers across it tenderly and whispered, "How odd." Her fingers paused, hovering over the moon. Her large blue eyes blinked curiously as she continued to stare at it, _'Something's not quite right…'_

He purred affectionately and rubbed his soft cheeks against her warm hands, bringing her out of her thoughts. More than anything, Artemis wanted to talk to the girl and ask her for help, like they always did. But he couldn't… he needed to approach this carefully and most definitely not in public. Artemis had waited by Ami's apartment all day, but he should have known better… so he was heading towards the library to find her until he saw her.

Ami resumed stroking his white fur, "Are you hungry?"

Not a moment later, a growl echoed in the silence. Ami chuckled slightly as Artemis grew pink. He couldn't remember the last time he ate – it must have been before the battle with Galaxia since they don't have the need to eat at the Time Gates.

"Aw you poor thing," Ami picked up the white cat and cradled him, "I'll take you home but just promise you'll keep quiet." She smiled warmly at Artemis. Even though she hadn't planned on keeping him, she wanted to at least feed him before taking him to an animal shelter. She figured she could sneak him into her apartment, feed him and then take him to a shelter within an hour or so.  
And so she set off back to her apartment, unsuspecting that her life was about to change drastically… again.

As they approached the apartment complex, Ami gently placed Artemis in her oversized tote school bag, "We're almost there. Just be patient and don't make a noise." With one last stroke on his soft white fur, Ami snapped her bag shut and hurried up to her apartment, trying to act normal whilst avoiding any neighbors.

When she got to her apartment, she quickly shut the door and let out the breath of air she was holding since entering the lobby. She crossed her tidy living room and set her bag down, "We're home now." Ami carefully lifted Artemis out of her purse and placed him on the dining table, "Wait here." She smiled and petted him before walking to the kitchen to grab a bowl and some milk.

"Here you go." Smiling as she placed the bowl of cold milk in front of Artemis, she petted him again. Artemis stared at her for a second longer before deciding to eat first, although his hesitation and the strange look in his eyes did not go amiss by Ami. She tilted her head in confusion and watched Artemis sip daintily from the bowl, _'How odd.'_ Thinking she just imagined it, she shook her head and went into her room to change out of her uniform.

Artemis had taken his time to finish his milk. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to tell Ami everything. After all he knew how much the girls wanted to live as normal girls and also, most importantly, he wasn't sure if the memories would cause Ami pain like the one he had heard about from Luna. His concerns only grew when he heard Ami come out of her room. She walked back into her living room wearing a simple white tank top with blue jean shorts.

"All done?" She was almost sad to let him go, "We have to go befor-"

Artemis figured Ami was going to bring him to an animal shelter since he knew her apartment rules. He thought it was best just to be direct with Ami. "Ami-chan, we have to talk."

If the genius ever screamed, it was the high-pitched shriek that came out of her mouth. "Wha-?"

"Sorry, but please don't be alarmed." He pounced off the table and landed gracefully on soft baby blue carpet. "Ami-chan. Please trust me."

Ami straightened herself and sat on her knees in front of Artemis. She still couldn't believe that the white cat in front of her had just spoken. Every cell in her body was telling her it was not possible, but she couldn't deny the fact that this cat was actually talking and still calling out her name to catch her attention. There were a million questions swimming in her head, but first things first, "What's your name?" The tone of her voice had elevated ever so slightly, indicating the genius's stress regarding the oddity of the current situation.

Artemis sighed a breath of relief, glad that Ami had finally responded. "My name is Artemis."

"Ar… te… mis…" she looked thoughtfully at him, still assessing the situation and how it was possible for a cat to talk.

Unfortunately, Artemis mistook her stares as a sign of Ami remembering the truth. He looked up hopefully at her, "What is it? Did you remember something?"

"Huh?" Although her mind usually processed things quickly, Ami still had difficulties believing that she was having a conversation with a cat, "Oh sorry, it's just odd." She cleared her throat, "How do you know my name?"

Crestfallen, Artemis responded, "We've met before." He saw that she was about to interrupt and raised his paw to stop her, "I know what you want to say. You don't remember me because… there's not good way to say this, but you don't remember me because your memories have been wiped. Uh… it's like your life has been restarted again, with a few changes."

She frowned, thinking to herself. _'This is strange… too much of a coincidence.'_ Her fingers unconsciously slipped to her chin as she started thinking about all the information Taiki had shared with her and what she had just learned. But she needed more information, "Please tell me everything."

Artemis was taken aback by her calm response. One of his eyebrows raised with suspicion. He knew Ami was always calm and collected, but given the current situation, she was _too_ calm… "You don't seem too surprised."

"I'll tell you what I know after."

Artemis smiled, "Of course. You've always been the cautious one, gathering all the data before drawing conclusions. I'm glad some things never change." His statement earned him a smile from the genius. "I have a way to revive all your memories. We've used it before on you girls, but it may or may not work this time." Artemis was still worried about how it may affect Ami.

Perhaps his concerns showed on his face, "Are you worried that these memories will cause pain?"

He looked at her skeptically, "How did you know?"

"Let's just say something happened this morning."

"You remembered something?" His eyes grew wide. Artemis wondered if it was safe for him to reveal the truth to her now, believing that it would be dangerous to her. His worries quickly abated.

"No, it wasn't me. It was…" She looked away shyly, "a friend."

Artemis noticed the faint blush and realized what had happened, "Was it Taiki-san?"

"Eh?" Her head snapped back towards him, "How did you know?"

It was then that Artemis started wondering if it was fair of him to force Ami back into the senshi life. He wasn't completely aware of Ami's feelings for Taiki in the past, but given her reaction just now, he was pretty sure Ami has a crush on Taiki, even if it was just a small one. '_Could I really force on Ami the very same thing I wanted to avoid for Mina?'_ But he didn't have much of a choice… he had a duty. "Lucky guess. But did anything happen to you?"

"Not particularly. I just felt that I knew him but as far as i know, it was the first time we've met."

Artemis was relieved, "Alright then. I'll show you everything." Ami nodded. "Please close your eyes." She nodded once again and did has he asked. He too closed his eyes as the moon on his forehead began to shine.

Within moments, all the memories of her past lives on the moon and their rebirth flooded back. The sheer amount of information and feelings she remembered was overwhelming and she felt faint. But she never let the darkness overtake her. By the end, although exhausted, she had merely succumbed to tears.

"Oh Artemis!" She opened her arms and Artemis threw himself at her, embracing each other tightly. "What happened? Why did this happen?"

Artemis had started tearing up as well, but never let a single tear fall, "I'm glad it worked! We were so worried." He sniffled softly as Ami let him go. "I'm not sure what happened. Do you remember anything during the last battle?"

She shook her head gracefully and wiped away the last of her tears. It was not the time for tears; they had a lot to do, "The four of us… Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and I… we sacrificed ourselves to prevent Galaxia from taking Sailor Moon and the Starlights' starseed." She hugged herself as she remembered the excruciating pain she felt when the golden ball of light hit her.

Artemis flinched violently at the information, "You…girls… died….?" It was not something he had expected at all.

Ami saw how the information affected Artemis and tried to be optimistic, "I'm sure we're all back now. I mean at least I am. I haven't seen the others, except Usagi-chan… and the Starlights." She frowned, "Why are the Starlights here?"

"That's a good question."

"And about our memories, it appears as if we're not affected the way they are. This morning…" Ami went on to tell Artemis everything about her encounter with Taiki, all that he had shared with her, and their last battle with Galaxia.

There were so many questions that they couldn't answer. "Artemis, do you have my minicomputer? I might be able to get some information on why this happened and how to help the Starlights regain their memories. They were with Sailor Moon in the end, so they might be able to tell us something. We have to find the source of this problem and perhaps then, we could reverse it." She paused… something struck her as odd as she continued to speak, "Why didn't you restore Usagi's memories? I assume Luna is with her right now?"

"Yes, Luna is keeping an eye on her. But the situation has changed now. According to Luna, she is dating Seiya-kun."

"EH!?" Ami's eyes bulged and her hands flew to her mouth. She had gasped so loud that she was afraid her neighbours heard her. "What…? They don't even hang out at school. And Mamoru-san?"

"I don't know the whole situation, but it appears as if Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san haven't met yet. Luna is afraid how it will impact Usagi-chan if she remembers everything right now."

"Conflicted between Seiya-kun and Mamoru-san?" Ami realized the dilemma they were facing. Although her feelings were less pronounced and situation was not as complicated, she too had developed feelings for Taiki and realized a relationship with the Starlights would never end well.

He nodded in agreement, "It would be easier for Usagi-chan and Seiya-kun if they both remember, not just one of them. That's where you come in, Ami-chan. We have to find a safe way to help the Starlights. I was initially afraid that you girls would have the same problem, but that doesn't seem to be the case so it makes things a little easier."

Ami nodded, "Taiki-san and I were planning on meeting to discuss their situation. Do you have my minicomputer?"

Artemis shook her head regrettably, "Luna and I don't have anyone's equipments. I can't be certain, but your powers should be dormant inside of you. But unless an enemy appears…"

"We don't have the need to transform…" Ami bit her lip.

Sighing, he continued with even more depressing news, "Unfortunately we don't know if an enemy will even appear."

Ami closed her eyes and smiled bitterly, "We're in bit of a dead end aren't we?"

"Seems so," he returned the same smile.

It was a while before either of them spoke. But what was said was worse than the silence, "Couldn't we just… live this life?" It was the horrible truth that neither of them wanted to speak aloud. Ami felt terrible saying something like that, but wasn't it something they all wished for? Could she really force the girls out of their normal lives, especially now that she learned that Usagi was happy with Seiya?

More than anything, Artemis too wanted the girls to lead a normal life. He had heard about it enough from Mina back in the days but… "I thought about that. But Crystal Tokyo…"

She sighed deeply and stared at the ceiling, but her thoughts were a million miles away, "ChibiUsa-chan, our destiny… our friendships…" With no enemies, she wasn't sure their destinies are set anymore. But she couldn't forget the friendships they had forged. Had it not been for Usagi, they would all be alone – it wasn't something she could easily forget. "Usagi-chan… please forgive me." She whispered quietly into the silent air. If Artemis had heard her, he didn't say anything. Her eyes returned to Artemis, "Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Setsuna-san, and Hotaru-chan should have more information. But let's find Rei, Mako, and Mina first. Then we'll go to Usagi-chan. You can revive their memories the same way you did for me."

One look into her eyes had made him doubt everything they were about to do. _'Did we make the right decision? Were we just selfish when we decided to restore their memories?'_ Artemis had never seen Ami look as forlorn as she did. "Sorry Ami-chan…"

"I know." Without looking back at him, Ami got up and headed towards her room, "Come on. We have lots to do."

****Please review!****


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